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Syrian rebels feel the blow of regime's Qusair capture

The Syrian regime could not have taken control of Qusair without help from Iranian-back Hezbollah, said a White House spokesman on Wednesday. Following the fighting, the U.S. urged Syria to allow international groups to evacuate the wounded.

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AP Photo/SANA
This photo shows Syrian army troops hold up national flags in the town of Qusair, near the Lebanon border in Syria, Wednesday. The capture of the town solidifies some of the regime's recent gains that have shifted the balance of power in Assad's favor in the Syrian civil war.

| WASHINGTON

The White House is condemning the Syrian regime's capture of a strategic border town and says the involvement of Lebanese Hezbollah threatens Lebanon's stability.

Syrian troops and their Hezbollah allies captured Qusair Wednesday after a three-week battle. It was a severe blow to rebels and opened the door for President Bashar Assad's regime to seize back the country's central heartland.

White House spokesman Jay Carney says Assad's regime clearly couldn't wrest control of Qusair (koo-SAY'-er) alone and had to rely on help from Iranian-backed Hezbollah. Carney says Syria's government must allow the U.N. and others to evacuate Qusair's wounded and provide medical treatment.

Carney also says the Syrian regime blatantly violated Lebanon's sovereignty by mounting a cross-border attack Wednesday on a mainly Sunni town in Lebanon near the Syrian border.

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