The Assad Regime Is On The Verge Of Retaking Southwestern Syria

Town By Town, Assad Regime Retakes Southwestern Syria -- Christian Science Monitor

The battle for the last major rebel-held town in Qalamoun looms after a five-month campaign. A regime victory would afford it uninterrupted control of southwestern Syria.

Hezbollah and the Syrian Army's five-month campaign to clear rebels from the strategic Qalamoun region is approaching its final stand.

The allies have seized one village and town after the other, gradually moving southward through the corridor between Damascus and Homs which links the Syrian capital to the Mediterranean coast.

According to Syrian state media, Syrian troops and Hezbollah fighters are set to launch an offensive against Rankous in central Qalamoun after seizing high ground overlooking the town and encircling it. Once Rankous is seized, only a tract of mountainous terrain stands in the way of the regime's final objective: Zabadani, the last major rebel-held town in Qalamoun. If Zabadani falls in the coming weeks, President Bashar al-Assad will once again have uninterrupted control of southwestern Syria, buying it time to consider how to claw back the rest of the country from rebel factions.

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My Comment: This is a hollow victory. After months of fighting and pursuing what essentially became a "scorched-earth" policy .... the Syrian Army and their Hezbollah allies can now claim that they have achieved a "significant victory". Some victory ... this region of Syria has been utterly destroyed .... the only thing left are a few refugees, massive rubble, and no hope for recovery in the foreseeable future..