June 5, 2013 -- Updated 1741 GMT (0141 HKT)
The Syrian government announced it has taken control of the strategic
city of Qusayr, where government forces and Hezbollah fighters have been
battling rebels for weeks. FULL STORY
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BIGGEST HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
June 5, 2013 -- Updated 1510 GMT (2310 HKT)
Forces loyal to Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad are seen near Qusair on Thursday, May 30. Tensions in
Syria flared in March 2011 during the onset of the Arab Spring,
eventually escalating into a civil war that still rages. This gallery
contains the most compelling images taken since the start of the
conflict.
HIDE CAPTION
Syrian civil war in photos
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Hezbollah was essential in helping the Syrian regime seize Qusayr, dissidents say
- Rebel spokesman: The regime takeover will lead to a new level of sectarian warfare
- Analyst: The capture will likely lead to cross-border attacks on Shiite areas in Lebanon
State-run TV credited an offensive "that led to the annihilation of a number of terrorists," the government's term for rebels.
"Our heroic armed forces
are always determined to confront any aggression that our beloved
homeland may face in the future," an anchor on Syrian state television
said.
The Syrian opposition acknowledged the report.
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Who are the Syrian rebels?
"Yes, dear brethren, this
is a battle that we lost, but the war is not over yet," said the Homs
Revolution News, which is associated with the Local Coordination
Committees of Syria, an opposition activist network.
One dissident group said
Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese Shiite militia backed by Iran and the
Syria government, was instrumental in the siege's success.
"Hezbollah fighters took
control of Al-Qusayr city after the regime forces covered their night
attack with heavy bombing that was carried out by the regime armed
forces since last night and continued into the morning," the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said.
The government's capture
of Qusayr came on the day that U.S., Russian and U.N. officials met in
Switzerland to plan an international conference on the Syrian crisis.
Following Wednesday's meeting, the United Nations' special
representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, told reporters that the
conference wouldn't happen in June as previously expected, but could
take place in July.
The loss of what had
been a rebel stronghold near the Lebanese border represents a blow to
rebels' efforts to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and may portend
heightened sectarian tensions.
That echoes what rebels
have been predicting for weeks: that a government takeover of Qusayr
could lead to a new level of sectarian warfare between Sunnis -- who
dominate Syria's population -- and Shiites and Alawites. Al-Assad's
family, which has ruled Syria for 42 years, belongs to the Alawite sect.
"If Qusayr falls at the
hands of the regime, there is no way to stop the acts of reprisal, and
that retribution will (reach) another level," rebel spokesman Col. Abdul
Hamid Zakaria told the Al-Arabiya TV network last month.
"This will lead to Shiite and Alawite towns to be completely wiped out of the map."
Indeed, video appeared Wednesday
on YouTube showing what the poster said were Free Syrian Army fighters
launching rockets at two Shiite villages, inhabited mostly by Assad
loyalists, in an overwhelmingly Sunni region in the northeastern
province of Aleppo.
Last week, Brig. Gen. Salim Idris of the rebel Free Syrian Army asked the public to "excuse (the) FSA" for any retaliation.
"We are being subjected to genocide conducted by Hezbollah," he told Al Arabiya.
France has said that
Hezbollah sent as many as 4,000 fighters to Syria to bolster al-Assad's
forces. The Lebanese militants "produced major results," particularly in
the battle for Qusayr, said Fawaz Gerges, director of the Middle East
Center at the London School of Economics.
Qusayr's importance
Qusayr's location has made it a crucial battleground for regime and rebel forces.
The government's control
of the city helps secure a critical link between the capital, Damascus,
and Alawite strongholds such as Tartus and Latakia, said Charles
Lister, an analyst at IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre.
He said the rebels' loss
will likely spark a rise in cross-border attacks on Shiite towns in
eastern Lebanon, and possible attacks on Hezbollah forces farther inside
the country.
FSA Gen. Salim Idriss
has said that the Syrian rebels will hunt Hezbollah down in Lebanon and
"in hell, if they have to," over the Shiite militia intervention in
Syria.
Nasrallah's deputy,
Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, responded by saying that his party can protect its
Shiite supporters in Lebanon and they "will punish the murderers who
attack Lebanon's sovereignty."
A Syrian helicopter
fired five missiles into Kherbet Dawoud, near the Lebanese town of
Arsal, which is largely Sunni and has served as a refuge for a number of
people who fled Qusayr; no casualties were reported, the Lebanese Army
Information Directorate said Wednesday.
Lebanon's National News
Agency reported that clashes were occurring in Tripoli between residents
of rival areas of the city -- the Bab-al-Tibbaneh neighborhood, which
is dominated by Sunnis, and the adjacent Jabal Mohsen neighborhood,
which is dominated by Alawites.
"The Syrian conflict is
no longer an internal struggle between Assad and the internal
opposition," Gerges said. "It's an open-ended war by proxy -- Iran,
Hezbollah and Syria, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, plus Russia and the
United States."
Shortly after the Syrian regime seized Qusayr, Iran sent congratulations.
No Geneva conference in June
Brahami, following
Wednesday's meeting with U.S. and Russian officials in Geneva, told
reporters that "it will not be possible to hold the conference (on
Syria) in June."
The talks, slated to be
held in Geneva, would bring together officials from Assad's regime and
members of the Syrian opposition to discuss a political solution.
The three parties
organizing the talks -- the United States, Russia and the United Nations
-- have agreed the conference will be sponsored by the U.N. secretary
general, but will meet again in Geneva on June 25 to discuss details,
Brahami said.
Officials will look at "windows of opportunities to hold the conference as soon as possible, hopefully in July," he said.
Al-Assad told Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV on May 30 that his government agreed in principle to participate in the talks.
Syria's main rebel
umbrella group, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and
Opposition Forces, has demanded al-Assad step aside in order for it to
take part in the talks,
Stark choice for residents
More than 70,000 Syrians
-- most of them civilians -- have been killed in the two-year conflict,
according to the United Nations.
In Qusayr alone, about
1,500 casualties are reported to be in need of medical care. Some
residents escaped the violence by digging holes and hiding in them,
refugees told U.N. staff.
Most of those who fled Qusayr to Lebanon are women and children.
"Those we have spoken to
say it is unsafe to flee with men, who are at heightened risk of being
arrested or killed at checkpoints along the way," said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the U.N.'s refugee agency.
Fleming said one woman
told the agency that Qusayr residents face a stark choice: "You leave
and risk being killed ... or you stay and face a certainty of being
killed."
But thousands of residents remain in Qusayr, their futures unknown.
CNN's Amir Ahmed and Tom Watkins contributed to this report
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Woman in red: It's not about me
She has quickly become a symbol of the protests in Turkey. Across social
media, she's known as "The Woman in Red," but the pepper-sprayed
protester insists it's "the people's revolt."
FULL STORY
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SYMBOL OF REBELLION
June 5, 2013 -- Updated 1536 GMT (2336 HKT)
Turkey's riot icon: Woman in red dress
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Ceyda Sungur is pepper-sprayed by security forces
- Images of her in a red dress, unarmed, move people to call her an icon of Turkey protests
- Sungur says there is no difference between her and others tear-gassed in the park
- Protests in Turkey have been raging for days, as riot police clash with demonstrators
Wearing a red summer
dress and a delicate necklace, the woman walked among demonstrators in
Istanbul's Taksim Square when a security officer lurched at her and
pepper-sprayed her so powerfully her hair was blown upward.
She could do nothing but
turn away from the toxic spray. The officer, wearing a gas mask, lunged
closer to her, unleashing more spray on the back of her neck. She
covered her mouth as officers spray others.
The photos of the incident have been shared widely on social media in recent days. International headlines have proclaimed her an "icon" of the movement against the government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
Apology for 'police aggression'
Online campaign puts spotlight on Turkey
Police, protesters clash in Ankara
"That photo encapsulates the essence of this protest," a math student named Esra told Reuters. "The violence of the police against peaceful protesters, people just trying to protect themselves and what they value."
The images have also inspired cartoons and graffiti in Turkey and around the world. And just seeing a woman in a red dress walking in public has apparently touched a chord with other women in the region, too.
Zeinobia tweeted, "The
woman in red in Turkey, I wish to wear such dress in downtown Cairo
without fear, without protests, without sexual harassment."
But the truth is that woman in red told CNN Wednesday that she wants no part of this.
What's happening in Turkey is the "people's revolt," she said.
Ceyda Sungur told Turkey's TV 24 that she is uncomfortable about her new fame. She doesn't want to be an icon of a movement.
"There are a lot of
people who were at the park and they were also tear-gassed," she said.
"There is not (a) difference between them and I."
But, she added, "I am
not surprised" about the violence that evolved from what began days ago
as a peaceful sit-in to protest plans to demolish a park in central
Istanbul -- the last green space in the city center.
Some in the crowd chanted "Tayyip resign!"
"Shoulder to shoulder against fascism!" they shouted.
Riot police moved in,
lobbing tear gas and using pepper spray. Protesters responded by hurling
bottles, blocking bulldozers and setting up barricades. Eventually,
protesters and police were locked in full-on clashes.
Erdogan conceded Saturday that Turkish security forces had used tear gas excessively against demonstrators.
On Tuesday, a top
Turkish official apologized for the "police aggression" and trade unions
threw their weight behind the demonstrations.
The 240,000-member KESK
confederation of public-sector workers called for a two-day strike to
protest what it calls the "fascism" of Erdogan's ruling Justice and
Development Party.
Riot police around
Ankara's central Kizilay Square brought in armored vehicles topped with
water cannon in a show of force Tuesday evening, but the demonstrations
throughout Wednesday were mostly calm.
CNN's Talia Kayali contributed to this report.
COPIADO http://edition.cnn.com
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