After being forced to abandon their homes when Hezbollah, with the support of the Syrian army, took control of the city of Al-Qusayr, residents of this city, located in western Syria near the border with Lebanon, have begun to return to their homes.
Most of them find their homes destroyed, according to a new report by the French News Agency (AFP).
Ali Khalaf (22), a resident of Qusayr, said that “most areas in the city of Qusayr had been closed to its residents,” adding: “Its residents and people who operated shops and factories there are prohibited from entering. ”
Halaf claimed that “Hezbollah turned many of the facilities into weapons and ammunition depots, but now after the liberation, everyone has returned to their places and land.”
Hezbollah’s former headquarters was vandalized, while most of the houses in the city were destroyed as a result of the violence of the war that lasted for years.
In 2013, Hezbollah announced that it had intervened militarily on behalf of Syrian forces to help them fight against the rebels who had occupied the area.
Then in June of that year, Hezbollah fighters took control of the city, establishing a military base and training camp there.
The population left the city and dispersed to surrounding areas where the conflict was less intense, and some of them moved to Lebanon.
Ayman Suwaid, a 30-year-old lawyer, said: “The city of Al-Qusayr was occupied and its residents were displaced to the countryside.”
He added: “The city of Qusayr is considered a border crossing with Lebanon, so during the occupation of Qusayr by Hezbollah, it became a land bridge for the transfer of weapons specifically from Syria and Iran and through Iraq to Lebanon.”
The area was a frequent target for Israeli aircraft that bombed Hezbollah positions in Syria.
But after the fall of Bashar al-Assad following the entry of armed opposition factions led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham into Damascus, Hezbollah fighters quickly left the city.