Assad is winning war in Syria

A girl sits on a chair placed among rubble as she sells bread on a damaged street in Deir al-Zor on May 9. (Photo: Reuters, Khalil Ashawi)

Twenty-six months into the bloody uprising and there is no clear victor in the war in Syria that has left tens of thousands of people dead. To the delight of Assad and his cronies, the Syrian army has made significant progress through military gains in the past month.

Assad started to smile when his brutal army made some gains in Idlib. Following weeks of intense offensives in Aleppo, Idlib and Damascus suburbs, government forces outflanked the opposition forces and broke through the opposition line that ringed the Wadi al-Deif and Hamidiya military bases in Idlib province on April 14. This enabled the Syrian army to bolster its groups fighting in northern Syria. The successful assault in Idlib also opened up a strategic highway to Aleppo -- a business hub deadlocked over battles between rival forces.

The army, which controls much of Homs city and province, intensified its air and ground campaign against the opposition fighters and recaptured the central districts there. Homs is the only connection between Damascus and government stronghold Alawite heartlands on the Mediterranean coast.

With the generous help of Hezbollah fighters, the Syrian regime also successfully besieged the border town of Qusayr, just 10 kilometers from the Lebanese border. Some opposition groups are still bottled up in the town, but the army is hell-bent on capturing the area as it has started to build up troops around the city since Wednesday.......................

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