Jaafar clan says bodies of two missing kinsmen found

        
The Jaafar clan announced from its stronghold in Hermel northeastern Lebanon that the bodies of two clan members reported missing a few months back whilst allegedly shopping in Syria's al-Qusayr countryside were found Wednesday, the state-run National News Agency reported.       

The bodies were identified as belonging to Ahmad Youssef and Mohammad Mahdi Jaafar, and were transferred to the Batoul hospital in Hermel.        

Al-Qusayr had been the scene of heavy battles between regime forces and rebel fighters in Syria.           

On the 5th of June, Syrian President Bashar Assad's troops, backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, regained control of the embattled strategic town of al-Qusayr where fighting had raged with rebels for nearly three weeks, state TV and a local government official said.           

The capture of the town, which lies close to the Lebanese border, solidified some of the regime's gains on the ground, shifting the balance of power in Assad's favor in the Syrian civil war.