Jun 10, 2013

The "War of Tunnels" is probably the most suitable name for the war fought in Syria's strategic region of Qusair, on the border with Lebanon. In each city, town and village, dozens of hideouts and underground routes have been found by the Syrian army and Hezbollah fighters.

"These tunnels were used to connect alleys with each other, exit routes and hideouts, snipers' shooting posts and weapons storage," Major Abdo, a Syrian army officer, told Al-Monitor. The tunnels were under almost every house and building. I entered one in one house, and at the end of it I found myself in the living room of an adjacent house. According to Abdo, "These tunnels took them a lot of time to plan, dig and connect."

Many of the fighters I met in the area spoke about the rebel snipers who used such tunnels to shoot at pro-regime fighters during the first days of the war.

"No one expected they'd use such a strategy. They'll wait for the fighters to get closer, then shoot them in the feet, and when the fighter kneels they'll finish him with a shot in the head," said Fidaa, a Hezbollah fighter who took part in the attack. He told me that in a day or two, it was clear: "One sniper was capable of stopping our advance for a day or two."

After the dramatic fall of Qusair and the rebels' retreat, there were expectations that a fierce battle would be fought for two towns around Qusair — Dabaa and Eastern Bouaida — but later on, the Syrian army entered them with no remarkable resistance. Everyone was asking: Where did the fighters go? The answer didn't take much time to appear.