A/HRC/24/46 16. The ground attack by the pro-Government forces was accompanied by an extensive campaign of shelling and bombardment involving the use of artillery and airpower. Corroborated interviews indicated the use by Hezbollah fighters of a highly explosive shoulder fired missile, likely to have been thermobaric in nature. This weaponry caused a significant number of casualties among anti-Government fighters and civilians, as well as extensive destruction of buildings. 17. Within 24 hours, on 20 May, Government forces and Hezbollah fighters managed to take control of Al-Qusayr town, with the exception of its northern neighbourhood where anti-Government armed groups redeployed. Fighting continued throughout May, with both sides reinforcing their positions in and around the town. Further Government reinforcements were redeployed from Damascus and Dara’a, including from the Syrian Republican Guard. 18. Approximately 300 anti-Government fighters, including elements from the AlTawheed Brigade from Aleppo and the Al-Usra Army from Dayr Al-Zawr, arrived to support the armed groups inside Al-Qusayr. Despite those reinforcements, anti-Government armed groups began to lose ground to Government forces and Hezbollah. Government forces benefitted not only of their superior weaponry and their ability to sever the armed groups’ supply lines into Al-Qusayr but also from Hezbollah’s expertise in street-to-street insurgency fighting. Approximately 500 armed group fighters were killed by shelling and by gunfire during the ground operations. An estimated 800 to 1000 fighters were injured, rendering them hors de combat. The Government later indicated that approximately 1,000 anti-Government fighters were captured. It has not been able to confirm these numbers. The whereabouts and treatment of many captured fighters is currently unknown. 19. The remaining fighters were unable to hold ground in the face of the pro Government onslaught. Squeezed between northern Al-Qusayr and Buwaydah AlSharqiyah, the fighters, together with civilians and hors de combat fighters, were forced – or allowed – to withdraw from Al-Qusayr on 5 June along a narrow corridor still under opposition control to reach the villages of Dabaa, Salhiyah and Buwaydah Al-Sharqiyah. 20. Until the last day of the offensive, scores of women, children and elderly had been able to exit Al-Qusayr through military checkpoints in Domaynah Al-Sharkiyah and Shamseen. However, those at risk of arbitrary arrest and unlawful detention – themselves a gateway to a range of other violations – had little choice but to remain inside the town. This included civilian men, boys over 12 years old and women related to wanted persons, such as defectors. They formed part of the convoy leaving Al-Qusayr in the last days of the battle. The fall of Al-Qusayr 21. It has been difficult to estimates the size of the convoy that exited Al-Qusayr on 5 June, primarily because of the sheer number of people moving in a narrow formation out of Al-Qusayr towards Buwaydah Al-Sharqiyah. However, there are reasonable grounds to believe that the total number was between 13,000 and 15,000 people. Corroborated accounts indicate that at least 10,000 civilians, mostly males over 12 years and over, were part of this convoy. This large group moved along dirt roads to avoid army positions. 22. From 6 to 8 June, the convoy of internally displaced moved towards the Homs Damascus Highway through Domaynah Al-Sharkiyah, Hamra and Al-Hussayniyah. The few persons remaining in these villages joined the convoy. 23. After taking control of the town of Al-Qusayr, pro-Government forces successively recaptured the remaining villages including Dabaa (6 June) and Buwaydah Al-Sharqiyah (8 36