Con Coughlin
London Telegraph
July 25, 2013
This morning’s report that hundreds of former Syrian rebels are laying down their arms and taking up the government’s offer of an amnesty is further evidence of what I have been saying (and writing) for months: President Bashar al-Assad is winning Syria’s brutal civil war.
Ever since Assad’s forces turned the tide of the conflict by retaking
the strategically important town of Qusayr on the Lebanese border
earlier in the summer, there has been an almost immutable momentum
building in favour of the regime gaining the upper hand in the conflict.
A combination of the deep divisions with the rebel ranks, with the
Syrian Free Forces declaring war on their al-Qaeda allies (a civil war
within a civil war), together with the tangible support Assad has
received from his Iranian and Russian allies, means that the rebel cause
is now all but lost. No wonder some of the rebels have decided they are
fighting for a lost cause, and have decided it is no longer worth
risking their lives.
Full article here
