Assad regime crushed on two fronts in Syria
LONDON — President Bashar Assad’s military has suffered two more crushing blows as it crumbles on both fronts in the long Syrian war against ISIL jihadists and other rebel groups.
Rebel groups backed by western allies like Jordan and Saudi Arabia claimed to have taken a key military base on the road south from Damascus to the Jordanian border.
Meanwhile, ISIL fighters attacked west from Palmyra, reaching Hassia on the main road north from Damascus to Homs and the coast. They were also said to be taking up positions west of the road near the Lebanese border, raising the possibility the country could literally be split in two.
That would not only be a disaster for the regime, but would raise the threat of Lebanon being sucked further into the conflict.
The border area is of vital strategic interest to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia militia that has been helping the regime against the rebels.
It is already fighting a three-way battle in the border area, including inside Lebanon itself.
The Assad regime has suffered a series of blows in recent weeks that have once again raised questions about how long Iran will continue to support it. Since ISIL took Palmyra three weeks ago, it has pushed on against a regime defence line that is withering.
It is now close to Homs, capital of Syria’s largest province but more important as a symbol of the early, non-jihadist opposition to the regime.
The defeat of a coalition of secular and “moderate” Islamist forces in Homs after a long siege by the regime was for a while seen as a turning point in the war. In fact, it seems merely to have invigorated support for more militant varieties of rebel.
“ISIL controls some of Hassia,” said Khodair Khashafa, a media activist from Homs.
Hassia is a small town that sits astride the M5 highway that connects Damascus not just to Homs but all the northern cities, including the Alawite areas of the Mediterranean coast that form the heartland of the regime.
South of Damascus, the rebel movement remains dominated by non-ISIL groups.
Some are in alliance with Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaida, but the dominant fighting forces are backed by Saudi Arabia and supplied through Jordan.
They have managed to wrest large parts of Dera’a province from the regime.