Just hours before the Syrian Army — backed by Hezbollah forces — regained control of the city of Qusair in northern Syria, a Syrian rebel field commander told Al-Monitor about the frantic battle fought by the opposition militants, who were subjected to severe aerial and ground bombing. He also said that withdrawal routes were cut off until Wednesday and Thursday [June 5-6].

Al-Monitor interviewed a military officer in the Free Syrian Army (FSA) who described the situation in the city of Qusair. He said that although the city had been surrounded from all sides, this did not hinder the provision of fighters, supplies and essential medicines through infiltrations or high-risk, targeted operations.

The FSA officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the full encirclement of Qusair by the Syrian army units had been a military mistake, because it would force the rebels to fight until the last man dies. He added that surrendering was not even an option for opposition fighters, because in this part of the world, it is equivalent to death.

The FSA officer added that the joint forces command directing the Syrian army and Hezbollah units that attacked Qusair for two weeks made a series of grave military mistakes in the early days of the battle. One of these mistakes is that they did not immediately attack the city in order to control it, but attempted to cleanse surrounding sites to secure their backs and supply routes, which prevented them from assuming a superior military position. Days after the launch of the all-out offensive, advancing toward the city became much more difficult for the opposition fighters.