DAMASCUS: Syrian government forces captured Saturday two villages near the border with Lebanon after clashes with opposition fighters, cutting a major supply route for weapons and fighters into Syria, state TV said.

State TV said the villages of Flita and Ras Maara fell into the hands of government forces early in the day. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed troops were advancing in the two villages although it had no immediate word on whether they fell to government forces.

The Observatory said government forces are backed by members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group who openly started taking part in Syria’s war last year against opposition forces.

The villages were the latest targets of a government offensive in the rugged Qalamoun border region after troops captured the town of Yabroud earlier this month. Tens of thousands of Syrians fled into Lebanon since the Qalamoun offensive began in November.

Flita, which is about 7 km from the border with Lebanon, had been a major crossing point for rebels coming from across the border into Syria to fight President Bashar Assad’s force.

Qalamoun holds strategic value for the government since it is home to the main north-south highway that links the capital to government strongholds along the Mediterranean coast.

The TV said the villages fell after government forces “wiped out the last remnants of armed terrorist groups and destroyed its weapons and tools they used in their crimes.” The Syrian government refers to rebels as “terrorists.”

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the fighting forced about 700 Syrians to flee to the Lebanese border town of Arsal, and that Lebanese soldiers were checking people’s identity cards to make sure no fighters were among them. It said the number of people fleeing is expected to rise amid fighting on the Syrian side.