Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech May 9 that Syria would supply Hezbollah with more advanced weapons in response to Israel's recent airstrikes near Damascus, The Daily Star reported. Nasrallah said the weapons are more sophisticated than any Hezbollah has ever obtained, and that Hezbollah was prepared to use the weapons against Israel. He also said Hezbollah was prepared to help any armed group seeking to take over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel reportedly launched its earlier airstrikes in Syria after discovering that a shipment of Iranian-made Fateh-110 short-range tactical ballistic missiles was being delivered to Hezbollah.

Syrian regime forces have taken control of the village of Shumariyeh, near the town of Al-Qusayr, an army officer said May 9, AFP reported.

Syria's Internet and communications were restored May 8 after a two-day blackout, Syrian state TV announced, AFP reported.

Syrian regime forces captured Khirbet Ghazaleh, a strategic southern town on the highway to Jordan, from rebel fighters on May 8, Reuters reported.

Syria's Martyrs of Yarmouk brigade is holding four U.N. peacekeepers who were monitoring the cease-fire line between Syria and the Golan Heights, the brigade and a U.N. spokeswoman said May 7, Reuters reported.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said May 7 that no excuse could justify Israeli airstrikes on Syria, AFP reported.

A U.N. team investigating human rights abuses in Syria said May 6 that there was no conclusive evidence that either side in the war had used chemical weapons, Al Jazeera reported.