Fierce clashes pitted Syrian rebels against troops and fighters loyal to the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah in several villages near Qusayr on the border with Lebanon on Tuesday, a watchdog said. Meanwhile, a military source told AFP the army expects to seize the town of Qusayr, a rebel stronghold, "within days." "The army is leading the campaign on the northern and eastern fronts, and Hezbollah is leading the fight on the southern and western fronts," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon on Monday implicitly confirmed Israel was behind a January strike on a weapons convoy in Syria, saying the Jewish state had "acted" to stop advanced weaponry reaching militants. Speaking at a news conference with US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, Yaalon said Israel would not allow "sophisticated weapons" to fall into the hands of "Hezbollah or other rogue elements."

Troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made new advances Sunday on the rebel stronghold town of Qusayr near the border with Lebanon, reports said. Activists say the army, backed by pro-regime militia and the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, is aiming to crush insurgents in villages surrounding Qusayr, and to then launch an assault on the town itself. Three new shells launched from the Qusayr area landed in eastern Lebanon, the official National News Agency reported, in what rebels described as retaliation for Hezbollah's involvement in Syria's war.

An explosive device blew up near the border in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, damaging an Israeli military vehicle, Palestinian witnesses and the army said. "For the first since since Operation Pillar of Defence, an IDF (army) vehicle was damaged by an explosion of a concealed device laid by terrorists" in Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, an army statement said, referring to Israel's eight-day bombardment of the enclave in November. The statement did not say whether anyone was injured in the explosion.