BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian government troops and Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon pushed into the Syrian border town of Zabadani on Sunday amid heavy airstrikes, continuing an offensive aimed at strengthening their control of routes between Lebanon and Syria.
Pushing insurgents out of the mountain town would continue advances aimed at cutting insurgent supply lines to Lebanon, and would also be a symbolic victory. Zabadani, a popular weekend getaway from Damascus before the war, was one of the first towns wrested from government control early in the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad that began in 2011.