Dozens of Syrian and Lebanese fighters wounded in battle against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Qusayr have been evacuated to Lebanon, security officials said Saturday. They were evacuated as the regime seized the last remaining insurgent bastion in the Qusayr area of central Syria, near the Lebanese border. The sources said the rebels included around 10 Lebanese Sunnis who had crossed to Syria to join the insurgency.

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have now seized all of the Qusayr area in central Syria, state television reported Saturday, as the United Nations launched a record aid appeal for refugees. Saturday's seizure of Eastern Bweida village, the last rebel bastion in the area, brought the entire Qusayr region near the border with Lebanon back under regime control. It came four days after Qusayr, a strategically key town for both the regime and the rebels which had been in insurgent hands for a year, fell to the army and forces from Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement.

The Lebanese army warned on Friday that a plot was afoot to embroil the country in the 26-month conflict in neighbouring Syria, as deadly clashes between Damascus supporters and opponents inside Lebanon multiply. "The army command... calls on citizens to be wary of plots aimed at taking Lebanon backwards and dragging it into an absurd war," a statement said, adding that it would give an "armed response to any armed action".

Syrian regime forces Friday sought to mop up the final pockets of rebel resistance north of Qusayr, after retaking the key town that was an insurgent bastion for a year, a watchdog said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said President Bashar al-Assad's forces were also sending reinforcements to the northern province of Aleppo, where large swathes of territory have been in rebel hands for months.