The latest offensives in Syria — first by the regime near Damascus and Aleppo, then by the insurgents in the capital’s suburbs — appear to be returning to the “dynamic stalemate” of the past year.
On Wednesday, the Syrian Army claimed that it had re-taken control of Deir Attiyah in the Qalamoun region between Damascus and the Lebanese border, “vanquish[ing] terrorist groups that sneaked to Deir Attieh city and stationed in a number of building blocks and state institutions”.
The presentation of victory, however, is misleading. At the start of its Qalamoun offensive, launched this month in an attempt to cut off insurgents in the south from those in the north and to “seal” the Lebanese border, President Assad’s forces held Deir Attiyah.
This week, they lost — or came close to losing — the town despite that offensive. To retake it, the Syrian military had to draw upon the expertise of Hezbollah fighters, who are becoming increasingly prominent in the regime’s battles.
After two weeks of the Qalamoun campaign, the regime’s only notable advance has been the occupation of Qara (pop. 30,000). Meanwhile, the Damascus-to-Homs road is still blocked by insurgents.
Meanwhile, near Damascus, uncertainty continues about the extent of the insurgent effort to take territory and break the Syrian military’s months-long siege of opposition-held suburbs in East Ghouta
Earlier this week, the insurgents said they had captured the suburb of Otaiba. However, amid a news blackout by the insurgency, the claim still cannot be confirmed.
The story is similar with assertions of several villages “liberated” by the opposition, although the insurgent campaign does appear to have allowed some supplies to get into besieged parts of East Ghouta.
A rocket or missile fired by insurgents narrowly fails to down a regime helicopter near the Damascus suburb of Erbin: