Bombardment: A fighter with the Free Syrian Army surveys the destruction in Aleppo. Photo: Reuters
Syrian troops buoyed by victory in Qusair are preparing to launch a northern offensive, a security source says, as the US considers this week whether to send arms to the rebels.
A Syrian security source said that after its capture of the strategic region of Qusair on the border with Lebanon, with the support of Hezbollah fighters, the regime's next target was Aleppo province in the north.
''It is likely the battle for Aleppo will start in the coming hours or days, and its aim is to reclaim the towns and villages in the province,'' the source said on Sunday. ''The Syrian Arab army is ready to carry out its mission in this province.''
The announcement of a potential new offensive comes five days after the army expelled rebels from Qusair in central-west Syria.
US officials suggested the Obama administration could decide this week to approve lethal aid for the rebels. The administration will also weigh the merits of a less likely move to send in US air power to enforce a flight exclusion zone in Syria.
Opposition leaders are warning Washington their rebellion could face devastating losses without greater support. The warnings are prompting the United States to consider drastic action. Officials say President Barack Obama is leaning closer towards approving sending weapons to rebel units. Recent Syrian government gains had made organising peace talks harder as well, despite phone discussions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported the regime was deploying ''thousands of soldiers'' in the Aleppo region, aiming to recapture rebel posts and sever supply routes from neighbouring Turkey.
Syrians were shown on Sunday firing into the air and waving portraits of President Bashar al-Assad in Qusair to celebrate the government's victory, in footage on Hezbollah's Al-Manar television.
The Syrian newspaper Al-Watan said the army has ''started to deploy at a large scale in Aleppo province, in preparation for a battle that will be fought in the city and its outskirts''.
Last July, rebels launched a massive assault on Aleppo, once Syria's commercial hub. The city has since suffered daily regime bombardment and clashes.
Al-Watan also said ''the Syrian army will take advantage of its experience in Qusair and Eastern Ghouta [near Damascus] to advance in the [central] province of Hama and Homs'' nearby.
In Beirut, a man was fatally wounded outside Iran's embassy during a demonstration against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. It was not known who fired the shot.
The Lebanese Red Cross said dozens of people wounded in Qusair have been brought across the border for treatment.
Officials say White House meetings are planned over the coming days.
AFP, AP