Syrian Rebels Make Fresh Gains (Syrian President al-Assad lost territory to Islamist insurgents)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad lost more territory on Tuesday to Islamist insurgents and Kurdish militias, bolstering Turkey’s push to create a rebel-controlled buffer zone along the two countries’ shared border.

The most striking opposition gains came in northwest Syria along Turkey’s frontier, according to representatives for various rebel factions and opposition activists in the area.

There, a Turkish-backed coalition of Islamist rebel groups captured more than a dozen villages, checkpoints and installations in a strategic area straddling Hama, Idlib and Latakia provinces that the Assad regime previously controlled, these people said.

The setbacks come two days after Mr. Assad said in a speech to his supporters that he was no longer able to defend many parts of the country. He said his depleted forces would instead focus on vital areas, a stark assessment for an authoritarian ruler who has held on to power during a 4½-year, multisided insurgency against him.

It's over for Assad. If he is wise, he should consolidate all power to the West of the country, where the Alawites have an ancestral history. The Alawites, non-Israeli Druze, remaining Christians and Ismaili communities can consolidate power there, and they can be able to properly defend it.

The rest of the country is lost ...already ISIS controls over 50% of Syria, and they are expanding their territory, and will kill anyone who doesn't accept and adhere to their Salafist/Wahhabi ideology.

Where ISIS doesn't control, for example parts of the north-west, is controlled by Al-Nusra. Al-Nusra is Al-Qaeda's Syria wing, and while Al Qaeda is not as monstrous as ISIS (I can't believe I just said that ...a group finally came along that made Qaeda seem 'tame'), they are just as willing to kill any 'non-believer.' These are, after all, the same chaps that were crashing planes into buildings! Al-Nusra believes in the same Salafist ideology that ISIS adheres to, the only difference is that Al-Nusra is a wild dog and ISIS is a wild dog with rabies.

Then there is the rest of the north (the larger part of the north), which is controlled by the Kurds. While the Kurdish fighters are 'good guys,' it should be taken for a fact that the north of Syria (and Iraq for that matter) is forever going to be part of a Kurdish state. Something that troubles Turkey greatly, but too bad for Turkey.

There are then pockets of the 'Free Syrian Army' here and there, and some of these groups range from people who may actually be freedom fighters, to bands of folk that may be too radical for the likes of Al-Nusra.

If I was Assad's advisor I would tell him all is lost, and it is time to consolidate power in the Western part of the country, specifically Alawite ancestral land, and forget the rest of Syria. It is gone.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.