DAMASCUS — The Free Syrian Army (FSA) has sacked its leader after the Western-backed rebels suffered repeated setbacks, amid signs of an escalation in fighting that has already killed more than 140,000 people.
Activists warned Monday that regime troops are preparing a ground offensive against Yabrud, the last rebel-held stronghold in the strategic Qalamun region near Lebanon’s border, after days of aerial bombardment.
On the diplomatic front, US Secretary of State John Kerry slammed Russia on Monday for “enabling” Syria’s President Bashar Assad to stay in power, after Geneva peace talks broke off without any result at the weekend.
Moscow dismissed the allegation and accused the United States of failing to ensure that a “truly representative opposition delegation” attended the talks.
Key rebel backer Saudi Arabia blamed the Syrian regime’s “obstinacy” for the failure.
The sacking of rebel military commander Selim Idriss was announced Sunday by the FSA, which said he was being replaced by Brigadier General Abdelilah Al Bashir, another army deserter.
Colonel Qassem Saadeddine of the rebel coalition said the decision was taken because of “the paralysis within the military command these past months” and the need to “restructure”.
A Syrian opposition source told AFP that Idriss — who was appointed in December 2012 — had faced criticism for battlefield failings.
These included “errors and carelessness in combat” and “poor distribution of weapons” to rebels, the source said.
The FSA has taken a beating in recent months not only from regime forces but also from Islamist fighters who have joined the battle to unseat Assad.
Considered the “moderate” rebel group, the FSA was once Syria’s strongest armed opposition force but is now increasingly marginalised by Islamists, including Al Qaeda-inspired groups.
Local truce in effect
The official SANA news agency said the army on Monday recaptured an Alawite village in central Hama province where rebels “massacred” civilians earlier this month.
In the Damascus area, meanwhile, a local truce went into effect in the southern suburb of Babbila, the latest in a series of local ceasefires in flashpoints around the capital.
An AFP reporter who visited the area under official escort said talks are taking place to arrange similar agreements in other areas.
Analysts said that with the failure of the latest round of peace talks, the regime and rebels are likely to ratchet up military operations.
“I fear that the failure of the Geneva talks will lead to military escalation — it will probably get worse before it gets better,” said Volker Perthes, director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
“Both sides will try to show that they can change the balance on the ground in their favour, and that they aren’t forced to negotiate out of weakness.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, reported a surge of fighting Monday around Yabrud, on a strategic highway linking Damascus and the central city of Homs.
The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP Syrian warplanes dropped explosive-packed barrels on the town’s outskirts, and that fighting had erupted in the nearby rebel-held towns of Ras Al Maara and Al Sahel.
Pro-regime newspaper Al Watan reported that troops were battling jihadists around Yabrud, including fighters from Al Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria.
Activ
ists say fighters from the Lebanese Shiite movement Hizbollah are helping regime forces in the Yabrud offensive.
Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday vowed that his group would help defeat the rebels, saying in a televised address it was only a “question of time”.
Diplomatic efforts stumble
The flare-up comes as diplomatic efforts to try to end the conflict seem to have ground to a halt.
A second round of US and Russian-backed peace talks between regime representatives and the opposition broke down on Saturday in Geneva with no date set for another.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Jakarta that the Damascus regime “stonewalled” in Geneva with “increased support from Iran, from Hezbollah and from Russia”.
“Russia needs to be a part of the solution and not be distributing so much more weapons and so much more aid that they’re in fact enabling Assad to double-down.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hit back, telling reporters in Moscow that the opposition delegation in Geneva did not include some of the most important members of the National Coalition umbrella group.
“They [Washington] assured us that they will be doing everything possible to ensure there is a truly representative opposition delegation,” Lavrov said.
“For now, they have been having trouble doing this.”
