Swaths of Syria out of regime hands despite Daraa victory

By ousting opposition groups from Daraa, the cradle of the Syrian uprising, Bashar Assad strengthened his grip on the country — but large swathes of territory remain beyond the regime’s control.

Syrian opposition fighters in Daraa were surrendering their heavy weapons to regime forces on Saturday, state media said, under a deal brokered by Russia.

It came a day after the regime and opposition began dismantling the dirt barriers that had divided the city for years, AFP’s correspondent said.

The agreement reached on Wednesday will see Daraa city fall back into regime control.

Negotiated by Moscow, it provides for the opposition to hand over heavy- and medium-duty weapons and to “reconcile” legally with the regime, according to state media.

Those who rejected the deal would be allowed safe passage out of the city.

The terms mirror a broader deal announced on July 6 for the entire province of Daraa, which would be implemented in three stages: The eastern countryside first, then the city, and finally the province’s west.

While the opposition groups have handed over weapons to regime forces in dozens of towns, no transfers of fighters or civilians to the opposition-held north have taken place yet.

The Daraa deals are the latest in a string of so-called “reconciliation” agreements that typically follow blistering military offensives.

After using the strategy to secure Damascus and other strategic parts of Syria since 2015, Assad turned his attention to the south.

Beginning on June 19, Syrian and Russian bombardment pounded opposition-controlled areas in Daraa and the neighboring province of Quneitra, ostensibly protected by an internationally agreed cease-fire.

The onslaught came to an end with the July 6 cease-fire.

Following Russia’s military intervention at the end of 2015, the regime secured a series of victories with additional support from its Iranian ally.

This year it secured the capital Damascus and its surroundings for the first time since 2012, before launching the offensive to take Daraa in the south of the country.

Loyalist forces now control more than 60 percent of Syria, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.

Syria’s main cities — Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama and Daraa — known as “useful Syria,” are all in regime hands.

Regime-held territory accounts for 72 percent of the population, according to Fabrice Balanche, a political geographer specializing in Syria.

The northwestern province of Idlib, on the border with Turkey, is the main bastion of Syria’s insurgents.

In the north and northwest, Ankara-backed groups control the town of Al-Bab in Aleppo province and other areas near the Turkish border.

With their rebel allies, Turkish forces seized the town of Afrin in March, ousting Kurdish fighters who pledged an insurgency to retake it.

In the south, opposition groups remain in Quneitra province, which borders the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Overall, the insurgents control no more than 9 percent of the country, according to the Observatory.

In addition to the military defeats, groups have split geographically and have also broken up into smaller factions over the years of war.

The semi-autonomous Kurdish zone, established during the war, represents the largest part of Syria outside of regime control.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-Arab coalition backed by the US, controls 27.4 percent of the country, Observatory figures show.

Within this are important oil fields in northeastern Syria.

The SDF has played a fundamental role in the fight against Daesh during the war.

With the backing of the anti-jihadist coalition led by Washington, last year the SDF drove Daesh out of Raqqa, which the group had declared its de-facto capital in Syria.

After mounting a lightning offensive across Iraq and Syria in 2014, proclaiming a cross-border “caliphate,” Daesh has seen its territory drastically reduced.

The terror outfit now holds just a few pockets in eastern Syria, along the Iraqi border and close to the Euphrates, and it is also present in some central desert areas such as Homs province.

Having once controlled nearly half of Syria, Daesh has seen its territory reduced to less than 3 percent of the country, the Observatory says.

Syria’s conflict has killed more than 350,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011.

Source: Swaths of Syria out of regime hands despite Daraa victory