Friday 21 November 2014

Daraa province slowly falls into Syrian rebel hands



"On Nov. 14, rebels destroyed an army Fozdeka combat vehicle using a Russian-made Fagot missile targeted at the outskirts of Brigade 82.
The opposition media office in Nawa stated on its Facebook page that 25% of the homes of the city are no longer habitable and called on “revolutionary bodies working in the field of human rights” to secure housing and shelter for hundreds of displaced families that returned to the city and found themselves homeless."
What a gay day. It is easy to overestimate the effect that opposition victories have, but there is hope that Syria might wake from the nightmare that is the fall of the House of Assad, and that's vitally important. Let's hope that pressure doesn't mean allowing the régime to survive Assad, the more Syrians are empowered militarily rather than having outside powers determine their future, the less likely that is to happen.
"Syrian rebels in the south are trying to present a model of a moderate opposition capable of achieving field victories, far from the Islamist character that has so far marked most rebel factions. Jabhat al-Nusra has a limited presence in the south and the military structure of the opposition’s joint command in Daraa was restructured to include a civilian administrative structure. This might encourage Western powers and their regional allies to support rebels in the south as a means to exert pressure on the Assad regime in Damascus."
Without Damascus, the régime would have no legitimacy as a state actor, and the recognition of a new government would likely be swift, if there is anything of Syria to recognise by then.
"The southern front is the most dangerous for Damascus. Through all the battles to the south of the capital and to the east toward Ghouta, the regime aims to protect Damascus as its center of power and to confirm its continued control of the Syrian central state. Without Damascus, the regime is little more than another armed faction on the ground in terms of power and influence."

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