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Syria rebels quit eastern city, army on offensive
BEIRUT: Rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Assad quit the eastern Syrian city of Deir Al-Zor on Tuesday in the face of a fierce army assault, the latest in a string of setbacks for opposition forces.Government troops also shelled residential areas in the cities of Hama and Homs, and the nearby town of Rastan, killing at least 10 people, while a soldier died in a raid on an army checkpoint in the south, opposition sources said. The lightly armed rebel forces have been forced into retreat across the country in recent weeks, with the army using heavy armor to chase them from towns and cities, chalking up its latest victory in Deir Al-Zor, which lies on the road to Iraq. Tanks entered residential neighborhoods, especially in southeastern areas of Deir Al-Zor. The Free Syrian Army pulled out to avoid a civilian massacre, a statement by the Deir Al-Zor Revolution Committees Union said. After failing to hold significant stretches of land, analysts say the rebels appear to be switiching to insurgency tactics, pointing to bloody car bomb attacks in two major Syrian cities at the weekend and the sabotage of a major rail link. Assad, fighting for the survival of his family dynasty which has ruled Syria for more than four decades, faces growing pressure from foreign powers, including ally Russia, to grant daily cease-fires that would enable humanitarian missions. His forces have been accused of torture and arbitrary executions while trying to put down the insurgency, but advocacy group the Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday the armed opposition was also guilty of serious offenses. Syrian rebels released an army general abducted in the Damascus suburb of Douma in return for prisoners and bodies of insurgents and civilians held by police, an opposition source familiar with the deal said on Tuesday. Naeem Khalil Odeh has been released in return for several prisoners and 14 bodies, the source said from Douma, referring to the general, adding that he had been seized last week. Homs became the epicenter of the year-long rebellion against Assad and has been repeatedly targeted by government troops, who are believed to have swept most rebel gunmen from the city. There has also been fighting further to the north around Hama, and opposition sources said Syrian tanks had bombarded the city early Tuesday to try to dislodge Free Syrian Army rebels who had resumed operations there despite several army sweeps. The Free Syria Army has proved little match for Assads well-armed security apparatus, and experts said the opposition appeared to be changing tactics. Car bomb attacks in the capital Damascus and second city Aleppo killed at least 30 over the weekend, while rebels also destroyed a railway bridge linking Damascus to Daraa, according to official Syrian media. The Syrian opposition prematurely tried to hold territory and take on the Syrian Army. This was a bad and costly mistake, said Joshua Landis, the head of Middle East Studies at the US University of Oklahoma. In the new phase of the battle that is shaping up to combat the Assad regime, opposition leaders are likely to champion new tactics of militancy and Islamization, he wrote on his blog Syria Comment. Posted by: Steve White 2012-03-21 |
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