Syrian President Bashar al-Assad faced another day of serious setbacks with a renewed uprising south of Damascus and the takeover of much of the country’s east by Kurdish forces.
Just one day after the fall of Hama, rebels that had previously reconciled with the government once again took up arms around the city of Daraa, along the border with Jordan. Daraa is an hour and a half drive from Damascus, opening up a dangerous new front. Meanwhile, the Syrian Arab Army withdrew from its bases in the east adjacent to Kurdish forces, losing Assad’s last major border crossing into Iraq.
The southern front
Anti-government forces blitzed out of their northern stronghold of Idlib last week, limiting the renewed fighting in the previously stagnant civil war to the north. That changed on Friday when reconciled rebels around the southernmost city of Daraa rose up again.
Footage from Daraa showed the rebels seizing the government police headquarters and army barracks. Rebels captured at least one tank.
Flags of the Free Syrian Army, the main rebel fighting force in the early days of the civil war, were unveiled and flown across the city. The insurgents raided large arsenals abandoned by the SAA.
Many rebels involved in the uprising had previously laid down their arms in a Russia-brokered reconciliation deal in 2018. They were seen returning to the city in force, with one video showing a massive procession of motorcycles.
Like Hama, Daraa, though much smaller, holds a particular significance to the rebels. Daraa is known by anti-government forces as the “cradle of the revolution,” as the first major protests in 2011 began after government police arrested and beat 15 boys for sprawling anti-Assad graffiti in the city.
Particularly alarming for Assad was the joining of two major local Druze groups to the rebel cause — a demographic that has typically been loyal to the Assad government. They quickly took the predominantly Druze city of Suwayda, located along the border with Jordan.
Suwayda 24, an activist group, announced that the Men of Dignity Movement and Mountain Brigade Gathering are “announcing the declaration of a general mobilization in the province following the rapid developments.”
Fighters were seen on video seizing the Nassib border crossing with Jordan, located on the crucial M5 motorway. The capture severs Assad’s primary connection with Jordan. The Jordanian government announced the closure of the crossing amid the hostility.
The rebels also took a slew of towns and villages surrounding Daraa and Suwayda.
The eastern front
On Friday, SAA forces withdrew from its strongholds in the east, adjacent to the Kurdish-led Syrian Defense Forces. SDF forces moved in without a fight, possibly striking a deal with Assad.
SDF forces crossed the Euphrates River to occupy Deir Ezzor, a key regime stronghold throughout the entire Syrian Civil War. In a dynamic war, Deir Ezzor was one of the few to never fall out of Assad’s control until Friday.
Moving into the city, the SDF’s Deir Ezzor Military Council said that the move across the Euphrates was directed not at the SAA, but over concerns about the Turkish-backed offensive routing SAA troops.
“The developments taking place in our homeland, Syria, pose a threat to the security of our people and our Deir Ezzor region. In particular, Turkish occupation-backed mercenary groups and ISIS mercenaries are reactive in the Deir Ezzor desert,” it said in a statement.
“Our primary objective is to protect our security and the security of our people,” it added.
SAA forces had previously withdrawn earlier in the war from most of northeast Syria, effectively handing it over to Kurdish militias. Before the surprise offensive beginning last week, the SDF had been in talks with Assad for incorporation back into Syria if given autonomy, fearful of Turkey and its proxy militias.
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The main blow of the withdrawal is Assad’s loss of his last border crossing into Iraq, through which he had been reliant on Iranian aid. An intervention of Iraq itself was ruled out by a spokesman for Iraq’s government, according to Reuters.
With the SAA seemingly melting away on all fronts, Assad’s main hope lies in Russian or Iranian intervention. Given the rapid pace of the collapse in the North Dakota-sized country, such an intervention may not be able to happen in time.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
