Syria death toll tops 100,000; heavy fighting in border town

BEIRUT: Bashar Assad’s forces have retaken a town on the Lebanese border as they press an offensive against fighters in a conflict that has now cost more than 100,000 lives, activists said yesterday. Syrian army has taken full control of Tel Kalakh.
Like Qusair, Tel Kalakh was used by fighters in the early stages of the conflict as a transit point for weapons and fighters smuggled into Syria to join the fight against Assad.
Pro-Assad websites showed video footage of soldiers patrolling the town in armored cars and on foot.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group, said fighters left the town on Tuesday, retreating toward the nearby Crusader fort of Crac des Chevaliers. Three fighters were killed as the army moved in.
Six months ago, Assad’s opponents were challenging the president’s grip on parts of Damascus, but are now under fierce military pressure there, while their supply lines from neighboring Jordan and Lebanon have steadily been choked off.
Meanwhile, Western and Arab nations pledged at the weekend to send urgent military aid to the fighters.
Hezbollah’s involvement has highlighted the increasingly sectarian dynamic in the Syrian conflict. Hezbollah and Tehran back Assad.
Jordan’s King Abdullah said the war could ignite conflict across the Middle East unless global powers helped to convene peace talks soon.
“It has become clear to all that the Syrian crisis may extend from being a civil war to a regional and sectarian conflict...the extent of which is unknown,” he said.
“It is time for a more serious Arab and international coordination to stop the deterioration of the Syrian crisis. The situation cannot wait any longer,” he added.
But prospects for proposed “Geneva 2” peace talks look bleak. Talks on Tuesday between the United States and Russia, which support opposing sides in Syria, produced no agreement on who should attend the conference or when it should be held.