generalspeaking

Restoring The Neighbourhood

"In every single second you can hear the sound of mortars and rockets and air strikes. The regime is so close you hear the sound of them launching he missile, and then you hear them land."
Abu Rami, Khalidiyah, Homs

Getty Images

The proud gains that the Free Syrian Army made in the last year are dissipating. The outlook for rebel fighters looks so bleak, said 27-year-old Adnan that he and his colleagues have taken to wearing suicide belts. Should they be captured they will detonate them. It will be their final statement. That old adage, give no quarter, expect no quarter informs them of their fate should they fall into the hands of the military or Hezbollah.

"All the infrastructure and most of the district is completely destroyed", commented Mohammed. "It will be a difficult fight for the army as the streets are so narrow that they cannot bring their tanks. They will shell it very, very heavily until it is destroyed", said a resident of the Old City, the very last rebel-held part of Homs, where it is estimated roughly one thousand rebels fighters remain. And he next battle destination for the military.

Khalidiya's capture by government troops represents a loss of huge dimensions to the rebels. Syrian state television exulted over the "collapse of the terrorists' citadel". The army of President Bashar al Assad's Alawite government had "restored security and stability across the neighbourhood". Security and stability are difficult to discern in the destroyed 'neighbourhood'.

Getty Images

The regime, it appears, has won back the country's central core. With the clearing out of insurgency forces from Homs the route linking Damascus to the coastal areas of Latakia and Tartous, the heartland of Bashar al-Assad's minority Alawite sect, has been accomplished. For the rebels the loss of Homs would represent a situation where they are left with a small amount of terrain along the border with Jordan and a fractured control of the north.

Without the stepped-up backing of fighters from Hezbollah, government soldiers would never have been able to realize this success. Their assistance in the last month has been invaluable to the regime. Allowing them to launch the final attack after having surrounded Khalidiyah, choking off food and weapons supplies to the rebels.

Salim Idris, head of the rebel Free Syrian Army had attempted to forward ammunition and guns, but was unable to succeed; the area too tightly surrounded. Skype communication from over a dozen activists who had lived in the area for the past two years plugged into a satellite Internet connection went off line Sunday, no longer able to send news of government attacks to the outside world.

Labels: Conflict, Revolution, Syria

posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, July 31, 2013