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STATE OF PLAY
The Economist
March 26 2014
Mar 26th 2014, 4:57 by S.B. | KUWAIT CITY
IT MAY look like Bashar Assad has the upper hand in the three-year-old
Syrian war as it did when his forces routed the rebels from Yabroud,
a town on the Lebanese border, on March 16th. Then suddenly a new front
opens. That has happened in the north-west where the rebels this week
took the border crossing of Kasab and a nearby town of the same name
from Syrian government forces. On March 25th, rebels advanced to Salma,
hoping to get their first outpost on Syria's Mediterranean coast.
The Kasab crossing is a vital link to Turkey for regime loyalists
living in the north-western coastal area that is the heartland of the
Alawites, the small sect from which the ruling Assad family comes. The
area is populated by other minorities too: Kasab is a mainly Armenian
Christian town and was a favoured summer resort before the war. Many in
the area are fearful since local rebel groups include devout Islamists
such as Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda affiliate, who see other sects,
especially the Alawites, as heretics. A rebel offensive last year,
which saw fighters take 12 villages before being pushed back, led to
over 200 killings which Human Rights Watch, a New York-based lobby,
condemned as a war crime.
Regime jets are bombing the area as fighting continues. The rebels,
who have their eyes set on Qardaha, the Assads' home village, may
find it hard to advance much further since the area is well defended
by the army and local groups of the National Defense Force (NDF), a
nationwide paramilitary network. But Mr Assad has lost a relative in
the offensive. On March 23rd Hilal al-Assad, a cousin of the president
and a leader in the NDF, was killed, apparently in a rebel rocket
attack on a building in which he was meeting.
As the to and fro continues, this map shows the latest on who controls
each of Syria's 19 border crossings, as well as territory inside Syria.
See Map at
http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2014/03/syrias-borders
From: A. Papazian
The Economist
March 26 2014
Mar 26th 2014, 4:57 by S.B. | KUWAIT CITY
IT MAY look like Bashar Assad has the upper hand in the three-year-old
Syrian war as it did when his forces routed the rebels from Yabroud,
a town on the Lebanese border, on March 16th. Then suddenly a new front
opens. That has happened in the north-west where the rebels this week
took the border crossing of Kasab and a nearby town of the same name
from Syrian government forces. On March 25th, rebels advanced to Salma,
hoping to get their first outpost on Syria's Mediterranean coast.
The Kasab crossing is a vital link to Turkey for regime loyalists
living in the north-western coastal area that is the heartland of the
Alawites, the small sect from which the ruling Assad family comes. The
area is populated by other minorities too: Kasab is a mainly Armenian
Christian town and was a favoured summer resort before the war. Many in
the area are fearful since local rebel groups include devout Islamists
such as Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda affiliate, who see other sects,
especially the Alawites, as heretics. A rebel offensive last year,
which saw fighters take 12 villages before being pushed back, led to
over 200 killings which Human Rights Watch, a New York-based lobby,
condemned as a war crime.
Regime jets are bombing the area as fighting continues. The rebels,
who have their eyes set on Qardaha, the Assads' home village, may
find it hard to advance much further since the area is well defended
by the army and local groups of the National Defense Force (NDF), a
nationwide paramilitary network. But Mr Assad has lost a relative in
the offensive. On March 23rd Hilal al-Assad, a cousin of the president
and a leader in the NDF, was killed, apparently in a rebel rocket
attack on a building in which he was meeting.
As the to and fro continues, this map shows the latest on who controls
each of Syria's 19 border crossings, as well as territory inside Syria.
See Map at
http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2014/03/syrias-borders
From: A. Papazian