Battle of al-Qusayr (2013)

Battle of al-Qusayr (2013)
Part of the Syrian civil war and the Al-Qusayr offensive
Date 19 May – 5 June 2013 (2 weeks and 3 days) Location Al-Qusayr and its district, Syria Result Decisive Syrian Army & Hezbollah victory[3]
Belligerents
Free Syrian Army Syrian Islamic Liberation Front Al-Nusra Front	Syrian Arab Republic Syrian Armed Forces National Defense Forces[1] Popular Committees[2]  Hezbollah
Commanders and leaders
Lt. Col. Mohieddin al-Zain (al-Qusayr military council)[4] Abu Omar †[citation needed] (top Al-Nusra Front commander) Abdul Qader Saleh (WIA) (Al-Tawhid Brigade commander)[5] Mahmoud Mohammed Ammar †[6] (Al Mughaouirs Brigade commander) Bilal Idris †[citation needed] (Farouq Battalion commander) Nawaf Alwani †[7] (Al Nusra Front commander) Bakr Saleh Mustapha †[8] (Kassioune Brigade commander) Abul-Baraa (al-Nusra front 'Emir')[4]	Abu Jihad (Hezbollah commander)[9] Fadi al-Jazar † (Hezbollah commander)[10] Mustafa Badreddine
Units involved
15 rebel units[11]	1st Armoured Division 10th Mechanised Division Unit 910 (Hezbollah)
Strength
1,900 fighters[12]	5,000–6,000 soldiers and militiamen,[13] 1,700[14]–2,000[13] Hezbollah fighters
Casualties and losses
431[15]–500+[12] killed, 1,000 wounded[12] (opposition claim) 1,257 killed, 1,192 wounded, 1,000 captured (government claim)[16]	114 Hezbollah fighters,[17] 23 soldiers and militiamen[18][19] and 8 Iranian officers killed,[20] 200 Hezbollah fighters wounded[21]
47 civilians killed[22] and 500 wounded[23]

The second of two battles in al-Qusayr started on 19 May 2013, as part of the larger al-Qusayr offensive, launched in early April 2013 by the Syrian Army and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, during the Syrian civil war,^[24] with the aim of capturing the villages around the rebel-held town of al-Qusayr and ultimately launching an attack on the town itself.^[25] The region was strategically important as a supply route for rebels fighting Syrian government forces in Homs^[26] and also for the Syrian government, as it lies between the capital, Damascus, and the Syrian coast, a stronghold for Assad supporters.^[27]

Prior to the offensive, the Syrian Air Force dropped leaflets over the town warning that government forces were going to attack the city. This led to thousands of civilians fleeing,^[28] though 25,000 residents stayed.^[14] Free Syrian Army (FSA) General Salim Idris warned of a "massacre" if the Syrian Army and Hezbollah were to take the town.^[29]

During the final days of the battle Hezbollah forces and rebels negotiated a withdrawal plan, in which the rebels and civilians could evacuate the town through a narrow corridor without being attacked.^[30] On 5 June, after two weeks of fighting, the Syrian Army and Hezbollah regained control of al-Qusayr as the last rebel contingents retreated.^[31] One observer described the battle as the "defining battle of the country's civil war."^[32]