Town by Town, Assad Retakes Southern Syria
The Christian Science Monitor reports on the Syrian army’s retaking of key positions in the Qalamoun mountains, a mountainous area of southern Syria along the Lebanese border. Rebel forces have been battling Assad’s troops for control of the area for months. Now, the paper says, momentum has shifted to the latter.
“After losing the key town of Yabroud in northern Qalamoun last month, the surviving rebel forces retreated southward, yielding ground slowly before the overwhelming firepower of their opponents. Other rebels have fled the region to the relative sanctuary of neighboring Lebanon, hiding out in the rugged mountains near the Sunni-populated town of Arsal,” writes Nicholas Blanford.
“’We feel betrayed. It seems the whole world is with Hezbollah and the Syrian regime now and we have been dumped,’ says Abu Omar, an Arsal resident who helps Syrian rebels. His pessimism reflects the rebels’ recent battlefield losses and the near certainty that the entire Qalamoun region will return to regime control in the coming months.”
U.N. Says Government Atrocities ‘Far Outweigh’ Rebel Crimes
The AP reports that U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay has said “atrocities committed by the Syrian government ‘far outweigh’ crimes by the opposition fighters and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime is ‘mostly responsible’ for the human rights offenses in the three-year war.
Pillay said “both sides’” abuses should be documented and brought to the International Criminal Court, “‘but you cannot compare the two. Clearly the actions of the forces of the government — killings, cruelty, persons in detention, disappearances, far outweigh’ those by the opposition.”
Pillay “has been pushing for an ICC war crimes prosecution since 2011. The council would have to refer the case to the ICC, but Russia and China, both permanent veto-wielding council members, have shielded Damascus from any serious council sanctions.”
Syrian Army Seizes Rebel Town of Rankus
The AFP reports that Assad forces seized the rebel-held town of Rankus on Wednesday, another victory for the government in the strategic Qalamoun region along the Lebanese border.
State media said that “units of the Syrian army have now accomplished their operation in the Rankus area and restored security and stability after eliminating a large number of terrorists,” while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that “the army entered the area and is engaged in fierce fighting and heavy shelling.”
Rare Aid Enters Besieged Parts of Aleppo
The AFP reports that the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and U.N. agencies have delivered humanitarian aid to rebel-held areas of Aleppo city for the first time in 10 months.
“Yesterday at noon we and a UNHCR team were able to bring in aid from the Jisr al-Haj crossing” west of the city, said SARC operations chief Khaled Erksoussi. “The operation took place after the implementation of a cease-fire between all the parties that was respected during the mission.
“It was the first time aid had been brought in via the Jisr al-Haj crossing, with a delivery in June last year entering from the northeast of the city instead. The goods, including food, blankets and health kits, were taken into the eastern neighborhoods on carts pulled by workers because the crossing was to small to accommodate vehicles.”
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