U.S. State Dept.: Syrian rebels are once again on the offensive

Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The U.S. intelligence community has assessed that Sunni rebels rebounded in Syria.

Officials said the intelligence community has determined that the Sunni revolt reversed many of the gains of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the spring of 2013.

A Syrian soldier fires a heavy machine gun during clashes on Sept. 7 with rebels in Maaloula village near Damascus.  /AP/SANA
A Syrian soldier fires a heavy machine gun during clashes on Sept. 7 with rebels in Maaloula village near Damascus. /AP/SANA

The officials said the rebels, including Saudi-financed militias linked to Al Qaida, have recaptured many of the areas lost in central and northern Syria.

“It is a war of attrition that the regime slowly, gradually, is losing,” a senior State Department official said.

In a briefing on Sept. 6, the official said the regime launched a brief offensive in May and June 2013 with the help of Iran, particularly Hizbullah. The official cited the capture by the Syrian Army along with Hizbullah of the western border town of Qusair and the central city of Homs.

“But if you’ve been watching events on the ground over the last few weeks you’ll have noticed that the armed opposition is again on the offensive both in the south and the north and even in the area close to where the government had recaptured some places in July,” the official, an aide to Secretary of State John Kerry, said.

[On Sept. 2, Britain and Syria came close to blows in a combat air
confrontation near Cyprus. The British media said two Syrian Air Force Su-24
fighter-bombers left Syrian air space and were met by two British
Eurofighter Typhoons.]

The U.S. assessment differed from that of other members of NATO. In an
assessment in July, the Western alliance was warned that a revived Syrian
Army, supported by Iran and Russia, was driving rebels out of
major strongholds, including those near the border with Turkey.

But officials said Washington did not envision any near-term collapse of
the regime or a sweeping offensive by the rebels. They acknowledged that a
Sunni offensive through the Alawite-dominated province of Latakia, where
many of the regime leaders live, was halted by Assad.

“That grinding war of attrition will continue and the regime’s manpower
shortages will continue to grow,” the official said. “But I wouldn’t expect
a breakthrough on the ground.”

Officials said the United States was helping the rebels consolidate
control. They said Washington has been pouring in money and equipment for
the establishment of rebel-controlled police in such cities and towns as
Aleppo, Dir Al Zour and Maarat Numan.

“We are now helping the police force in the city of Aleppo,” the
official said. “We’re providing them with equipment. We’re providing them
with the means of renovating police stations. And we’re even equipping the
police force with things like communications gear. I don’t want to oversell
it, but there is some law and order. It’s not complete anarchy in Aleppo.
We’re about to start that again in another city in Syria. We’re going to
expand that out.”

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