Syrian air power stifles rebels

Assad making most of air strikes — his main advantage in stopping advances by opposition

by Barbara Surk President Bashar al- Assad has exploited his greatest advantage in the Syrian civil war — his air power — to push back rebel advances and prevent the opposition from setting up a rival government in its northern stronghold.

Along the way, fighter jets and helicopters have hit civilian targets such as hospitals, bakeries and residential buildings, according to a report released yesterday by a United Statesbased human rights group. It accused the regime of committing war crimes with indiscriminate airstrikes that have killed more than 4000 civilians since the ( northern) summer in Syria.

The Human Rights Watch report said Assad’s air force has dropped ‘‘ imprecise and inherently indiscriminate’’ munitions, including cluster bombs, on civilian areas.

In recent months, large parts of northern Syria near the border with Turkey have fallen to the rebels, including several neighbourhoods of Aleppo, the country’s largest city.

With the recent influx of more advanced weapons and other foreign aid, the rebels have also made major gains in the south, seizing military bases and towns in the strategically important region between the capital, Damascus, and the border with Jordan.

Two years into the uprising, however, the Assad regime’s control of the skies is hampering rebels’ efforts to hold on to territory they capture with any efficiency. An interim leader of the opposition has been elected, but he and others opposed to Assad have made only a few, brief forays into rebel- controlled areas.

‘‘ The air force is extremely important for Assad right now,’’ said Joseph Holliday, a Syria analyst at the Washington- based Institute for the Study of War.

‘‘ It has allowed Assad to prevent rebels from establishing a part of Syria where people can be safe and the opposition can focus on governing the place,’’ he said. ‘‘ It very difficult to do that without a space that is free from constant harassment from the aircraft.’’

Although the rebels have been able to shoot down several aircraft after capturing some heavier weapons from military bases, they are largely helpless when it comes to Assad’s air supremacy.

The opposition has repeatedly asked their foreign backers for weapons that can shoot down the regime’s aircraft and help hasten the fall of Assad. But the US and its European allies have been reluctant to provide opposition fighters with antiaircraft missiles for fear they may end in the hands of radical Muslim groups that have been the most organised fighting force on the opposition side.

The rebels also want a no- fly zone established over northern Syria, but the countries opposed to Assad have taken no action on that option, either.

The top US military commander in Europe, Admiral James Stavridis, said last month that some Nato nations are looking at a variety of military operations to end the deadlock and assist the opposition forces, including using aircraft to impose a no- fly zone, providing military assistance to the rebels and imposing arms embargoes.

As with US and international involvement in Libya in 2011, a resolution from the UN Security Council and agreement among the alliance’s 28 members would be needed before Nato takes a military role in Syria, Stavridis said.

Late last year, Nato deployed Patriot batteries along Turkey’s border with Syria, with the alliance’s leaders emphasising that the missiles will not be used to shoot down aircraft operating in Syrian airspace.

Military experts say it is unlikely the West will revisit the no- fly zone any time soon.

‘‘ It’s not easy to just go on and establish a no- fly zone, and the West has said so before,’’ said Beirut- based military analyst, Brigadier General Hisham Jaber, a retired Lebanese army officer who heads the Middle East Centre for Studies and Political Research in Beirut.

‘‘ They know that the Syrian army remained strong, the air force is behind Assad, and they also know that Syria has a very sophisticated air defence system,’’ he said.

Jaber said Syria has about 400 operational aircraft, although analysts say it is difficult to come up with reliable figures on the Syrian air force and air defences because of the extreme secrecy that blankets its military matters.