Syrian army, Hezbollah capture strategic point near Lebanon border

The Syrian army and the Lebanese Hezbollah group captured a strategic barren terrain near the Lebanese borders on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.

The military forces and Hezbollah fully controlled the barrens of the town of Flaita on the Syrian side of the Lebanese borders, according to the report.

Saturday's achievement is the latest in a series of successful operations the Syrian army and Hezbollah made in the rugged Qalamoun region, north of the capital Damascus and along the borderline with neighboring Lebanon.

The capture of Flaita barrens gave the Syrian forces the upper hand in the Qalamoun battles, according to Xinhua new agency.

A day earlier, the general command of the Syrian army said in a statement that the military progress in Qalamoun constituted a "heavy blow" to the terrorists, adding that the operations there helped in securing the road connecting the southern Syrian region with the central and coastal Syrian cities and in securing the Lebanese border towns from the terrorists' threats.

The operations also enabled the Syrian army to cut all supply lines the militant groups were using to smuggle in fighters and cash from Lebanon, the statement added.

The general command noted that the operations in Qalamoun would continue in the barrens of that mountainous region until dislodging the rebels from Syrian border towns.

Aside from the benefits of the progress in Qalamoun for the Syrian army, experts said Hezbollah also got a strategic interest as the Shia group has many bases on the Lebanese side of the border near Qalamoun.