Rebels Lose Ground To Assad Forces In Syria War; Free Syrian Army Official Akaidi Resigns
Source: Washington Post
By Liz Sly, Sunday, November 3, 3:33 PM
KILIS, Turkey — Forces loyal to the Syrian government are taking advantage of deepening rifts among Syria’s feuding rebels to advance into rebel-held territory in the northern part of the country, overturning some long-held assumptions about the war.
The resignation on Sunday of a top leader in the U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army further underscored the extent to which rebel infighting is undermining the effort not only to topple President Bashar al-Assad but also to hold on to territories won by the opposition in the past two years of conflict.
Col. Abdul Jabbar Akaidi, one of the chief recipients of what little American aid has been provided to the rebels, said he was standing down to protest the rebel bickering, which he blamed for the capture on Friday by Assad loyalists of the strategic town of Safira, southeast of the key city of Aleppo.
The fall of Safira restored a vital supply link between Damascus and government forces holding out in the divided northern city and put regime loyalists on track to challenge other opposition strongholds in the province, almost all of which has been under rebel control for more than a year. Rebel commanders said the town fell after Islamist brigades failed to respond to a call for reinforcements by the Tawheed Brigade, Aleppo’s biggest battalion, which was forced to flee under a withering aerial bombardment inflicted by the Syrian air force.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/rebels-lose-ground-to-assad-forces-in-syria-war-free-syrian-army-official-akaidi-resigns/2013/11/03/e3ecbf44-44bb-11e3-95a9-3f15b5618ba8_story.html