The town of Qara in the Qalamoun region, in Damascus Countryside Governorate, is reportedly witnessing rising tensions between Assad’s forces and Hezbollah.

According to local activists, the latest hostilities began when Hezbollah fighters stormed the regime-run private Qara Hospital and expelled Assad’s forces from it last week.

The activists told prominent Syrian journalist Hadi Abdullah that 13 Hezbollah militiamen stormed the hospital, stripping Assad’s forces of their weapons and kicking them out. Prior to this, members of the Iranian-backed militia had reportedly requested military reinforcements, who arrived from the Nabek area and were stationed in the vicinity of the hospital.
The requested reinforcements brought military vehicles and dozens more Hezbollah miltiiamen, estimated to number around 45 in total.

The local activists also indicated that members of the Iranian regime-backed militia also set up two makeshift prison facilities in the vicinity of the hospital, adding that Assad's forces had requested an emergency meeting with the Lebanese militia to discuss the matter.

Hadi Abdullah noted, with his customary deadpan humour, that the Hezbollah operatives, who previously “evacuated” the hospital on January 28, 2007 (after fleeing Lebanon in 2006 to escape Israeli bombardment), had clearly forgotten their love of the barren Qara area.

Before withdrawing from the hospital, he added, the Assad regime personnel seized a number of medical devices, taking these with them to a barren area near Qara, where they established a military and medical point.

The private Qara Hospital, constructed before the Syrian revolution, was built using donations from expatriates living abroad.
Hezbullah operatives have been concentrated in the surrounding area since 2014 when they took control of the region after killing and dispossessing most of its population.

Original report via Hadi Abdullah (in Arabic): https://hadiabdullah.net/2021/03/14/%D8%AA%D9%80-%D9%88%D8%AA%D8%B1-%D9%...