In Syria, rebel attacks in the north reflect a number of important changes

[Jefferson23]

The intra-rebel civil war has ebbed in these areas, allowing opposition fighters to resume their war with government forces

April 17, 2014

The Syrian government is eliminating the last rebel strongholds in the centre of the country along the crucial road linking Damascus to Homs and to Tartous on the coast. These areas have always been essential for it to maintain its grip on power.

At the same time, the rebels have launched offensives from places where they have strength, notably against Latakia province just south of the Turkish border and West Aleppo, which is a government bastion that has been under attack since 3 April. Rebel-held parts of Aleppo, most of whose inhabitants have fled, are being pounded by barrel bombs dropped by helicopters while rebels have been firing rockets and shells into the government controlled west of the city.

Homs was once the centre of the popular uprising in 2011 but opposition fighters now hold only some of the ruins in the old city. Many of its remaining inhabitants left under UN auspices in February, but a core of militant fighters stayed behind. Other rebel held areas in Homs have fallen and hundreds of thousands of Sunni have fed into al-Waer district in the west of the city which sealed off by the Syrian army.

In some parts of Homs life continues as normal though there were two recent car bombings inflicting heavy casualties. Other fought-over neighbourhoods have become ‘ghost districts’ and are uninhabited, their old population having fled to Lebanon or Tartous. The army has been systematically sealing off and capturing opposition enclaves in western Homs province such as that around the Crusader fortress of Krak des Chevaliers.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/in-syria-rebel-attacks-in-the-north-reflect-a-number-of-important-changes-9268243.html