Special to WorldTribune.com

LONDON — After more than two years of civil war, much of Syria has
refused to become drawn into the violence between the regime of President
Bashar Assad and Sunni rebels, a report said.

The International Crisis Group asserted that much if not most of Syria
has dropped out of the Sunni revolt against Assad. In a report, ICG said
even former rebel strongholds have stopped becoming areas of operations
amid the sweep by Assad forces throughout the country.
“Not all of Syria is a war zone, although most areas have suffered from violence of one sort or another,” the report, titled “Syria’s Metastasizing Conflicts,” said. “Some that initially experienced a cycle of protests, repression and counter-violence have become relatively quiet, albeit for different reasons.”

Based on interviews with rebels, Syrian officials and witnesses, ICG said many communities have been crushed into submission by the Assad offensive. The report, dated June 27, cited Daraya, Homs, Qudsaya, Rastan,
Talbissa and Tal Kalakh.

“Large cities such as Hama and Idlib have remained under regime control
despite strong pro-opposition leanings, mainly out of fear of suffering the
all-out destruction visited upon Homs, Dera, Dir Al Zour and Aleppo,” the
report said. “In the western coastal area, specifically Tartous and Latakia,
an explosive mix of Sunnis, Alawites, Christians and displaced persons from
other parts of the country appears to have prompted a collective reflex of
self-preservation and cemented — at least for now — a truce of sorts,
allowing relatives of people fighting each other elsewhere to coexist peacefully.”

The report said much of the minority areas, particularly the Druze, was
drifting toward neutrality as Al Qaida-aligned militias sought to dominate.
This included the Sweida province and the Ismaili town of Salmiya in central
Syria.

“Areas spared the bulk of the fighting have absorbed large numbers of
internally displaced civilians eager to avoid the fate of their former
neighborhoods,” the report said. “This has reinforced both sides’
acceptance of these locations’ de facto status as informal — and
precarious — safe havens for at least as long as war imperatives do not
reverse their calculus.”

In some towns, residents have fled rebel takeovers in fear of air
strikes and artillery shelling by the Syrian military. The report cited
Raqah, emptied of most of its residents.

“If the authorities are unwilling or unable to retake them through
ground operations, they tend to use mortars and artillery, improvised bombs
or rockets to prevent a return to normalcy and to raise the cost of
supporting or being associated with the opposition,” the report said.

“Tellingly, Raqah residents, fearing regime retaliation and in particular
ballistic missile attacks, fled in droves when armed groups announced the
city had been liberated.”

  Alawites, Daraya, Druze, Homs, Idlib, International Crisis Group, Qudsaya, Rastan, Report: Many Syrians have dropped out of the revolution after Assad offensive, Sunnis