When Syrian government forces on Sunday swept into Yabrud, a town long held by rebels near the Lebanese border, it was a symbolic turning point for insurgents and government supporters alike in a conflict now heading into its fourth year. Yabrud was a rallying point for the government and its allies in the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, who were instrumental in the fight, just as they were when they helped take another crucial border town, Qusayr, last spring. Thirteen Syrian nuns had been held hostage by insurgents in Yabrud until last week, and the government had long said that the town harbored a factory that was making the car bombs that have killed scores in southern Beirut in recent months. For Syrian opposition […]