The Syrian army has captured a key southern town from rebel forces after weeks of fierce fighting, a Syrian activist group says.
The fall of Sheikh Maskin on Monday means government forces will strengthen their hold on Deraa province, while cutting off rebel factions from key supply lines.
Deraa, the scene of the earliest protests against the Syrian government in 2011, contains routes crucial to both the Syrian army and rebel fighters.
“The town is very important for both sides. They have both fought fiercely. Now by taking it, the regime has cut off the rebels links between eastern and western Deraa,” said Rami Abdulrahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence in the country through a wide network of local sources.
“The destruction in the town is huge.”
The organisation said fighting involved government troops backed by fighters from the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah, as well as air support from Russian fighter jets.
Rebel groups include al-Nusra Front, Islamic factions, and those alligned with the Western-backed Free Syrian Army.
Juan Cole, a Middle East analyst at the University of Michigan, told Al Jazeera the recent gains by government forces in Syria’s south were significant, considering rebels once controlled about 70 percent of Deraa province.
Cole also underscored Russia’s role in the advance.
“Largely because of Russian air intervention the rebels are being scattered. Things have just turned around 180 degrees for the regime since the Russians came in… Now there is a significant reversal that will affect the rebels’ logistics,” said Cole.
Peace talks
A Syrian government advance on Deraa began late in December and Sheikh Maskin’s fall comes amid international efforts to bring opposing factions to the negotiating table.
On Monday, the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said peace talks originally slated to start on Monday would be pushed back to Friday.
The proposed-Geneva 2 peace effort has been blighted by disagreements over which rebel groups should be allowed to attend.
The talks will also exclude al-Nusra Front, which is al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the country, as well as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, which controls most of Syria’s eastern half.(Al Jazeera)
Link: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/01/syrian-army-captures-key-southern-town-rebels-160126040829177.html
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