LATEST: US Names Rubinstein as Special Envoy
MONDAY FEATURE
Week Past, Week Ahead: Syria — A Big Victory for Assad’s Forces
Syrian forces and Hezbollah completed the capture of the city of Yabroud, 62 kilometers (39 miles) northeast of Damascus, on Sunday.
Yabroud is the largest city in the Qalamoun region between Damascus and the Lebanese border, where regime troops have been pursuing an offensive in November. The Syrian military and Hezbollah had attacked the area around Yabroud for a month, closing on the city in the past week on three sides and taking Rima Farms and the hills overlooking the city.
On Friday, Hezbollah fighters launched an attack from Rima Farms and the west as a diversion. The main assault against the 1500 insurgents in the city then came from the east. By late Friday, the two fronts of the attack had met in the city center.
Insurgents, after heavy fighting and casualties on both sides, withdrew on Saturday to nearby villages.
Thousands of Yabroud’s 60,000 residents have fled for Lebanon during the fighting. Well-placed sources report that the city is looted, with regime convoys “taking everything, including furniture from civilian homes as well as stock from factories and warehouses”.
Yabroud is the third and biggest prize for the Syrian military in the Qalamoun offensive: in late 2013, regime forces took the towns of Qara and Nabk in the effort to cut off insurgents from Lebanon.
Opposition fighters will now try to maintain supply lines while holding positions in the Qalamoun mountains and countryside, possibly looking toward guerrilla-type attacks on Syrian forces.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV broadcasts from norheastern Yabroud soon after the entry of President Assad’s forces:
US Names Rubinstein as Special Envoy
The Obama Administration has named Daniel RubinsteinFor to succeed Robert Ford as the US Special Envoy for Syria.
Rubinstein has served in a series of US posts in the Middle East and North Africa and most recently in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
Secretary of State John Kerry said Rubinstein will travel to the region later this month “to begin consultations with Syrians and others seeking an end to the slaughter and a different kind of future”.
Ford resigned at the start of March. He was named in late 2010 as the first American ambassador to Syria in five years and was withdrawn in October 2011 after vocal criticism of the Assad regime.
Death Toll Revised for Sunday Bombing in Northern Lebanon
The death toll for a Sunday night bombing in northern Lebanon has been revised downward to 2, with 14 injuries.
Initial reports of the explosion, which occurred as Hezbollah members tried to intercept a would-be car bomber in the town of Nabi Othman, said four people had been killed.
One of the confirmed dead was from Hezbollah.
Jabhat al-Nusra, a leading faction in the Syrian conflict, and The Brigade of Free Sunnis in Baalbek claimed responsibility for the blast.
Meanwhile, two rockets struck the town of Al-Labwa near Lebanon’s border with Syria on Monday, and security forces blew up a suspected car bomb.
Insurgents Retaliate for Regime Bombing Across Idlib Province
Insurgents say they have hit the bases of pro-Assad militia in retaliation for regime airstrikes across Idlib Province this weekend:
Footage showed the aftermath of Saturday’s regime attacks on areas like Jabal al-Zawiya and Maarat al-Nu’man, with bodies strewn across the sites.
From Kafranbel to Washington: A Message for President Obama
The iconic protest posters of Kafranbel in northwest Syria made their way to Washington on Saturday, for demonstrations marking the third anniversary of the Syrian conflict:
Local Coordination Committees: 87 People Killed on Sunday
The Local Coordination Committees report that At least 14 people died in barrel bombing of Ras al-Mara in Damascus Province. Dozens were wounded.
