Think Tank: Syrian Rebels Are Facing Defeat

Syrian Defense Minister General Fahad Jassim al-Freij, center, visits Yabroud on March 16. /Reuters/SANA

Think Tank: Syrian Rebels Face Defeat As Assad Forces, Hizbullah Advance -- World Tribune

WASHINGTON — A leading U.S. think tank has raised the prospect of a collapse of the Sunni revolt in Syria.

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy asserted that the regime of President Bashar Assad was advancing along several fronts in Syria. In a report on March 11, the institute said the besieged Sunni rebels could lose their will to continue the three-year revolt.

“While this is unlikely to happen overnight, there is always the possibility of a quick collapse of resistance through the cumulative effects of casualties, logistical problems, loss of will to fight, and declining popular support,” the report, titled “The Assad Regime Winning By Inches?” said.

Author Jeffrey White, a former U.S. military intelligence officer, said the Syrian Army, backed by Hizbullah and other Iranian-sponsored proxies, was advancing along three fronts — the border with Lebanon, Aleppo and Damascus. White said Assad’s success in either Aleppo and Damascus would shift the war in his favor and bolster the military option.

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My Comment: From my perch in Canada .... I so not see the civil war ending any day soon. While it is true that the Syrian regime has made advances .... it has taken them a long time and at a heavy cost .... and they have been fighting a rebel movement that is deeply fractured and at war with itself. If the Syrian rebels can agree to work together .... the Syrian Army`s advances may be short lived.