Opposition Unified in Aleppo Battle
The Syrian opposition alliances Ansar al Sharia and Aleppo Conquest have achieved significant advances against regime forces in Aleppo city recently. These gains affirm the success of the alliance between opposition groups and the Al Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front. The alliance first engaged in joint operations under the name of ”Fateh army” in Idlib, Qalamoun, and Syria’s southern territories. The ”Fateh Army” made more progress in a matter of months than the groups achieved separately in four years of war. The regime also lost several strongholds in Daraa province and its outskirts in southern Syria to the “Southern Storm” alliance. However, differences between the ideologies of the opposition groups are likely to pose a challenge in the future.
The Fight Between ISIS & YPG
While the war continues between the Syrian regime and opposition rebel groups, the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham is also attempting to capture more territory from both the regime and rebel groups. ISIS recently won in battles with opposition rebels and took control of two towns in Aleppo province. However, after fighting with Kurdish YPG militants on June 25, ISIS was unable to retake the town of Kobane. Then the YPG, supported by US-led coalition airstrikes, managed to take control of the northern town of Tal Abyad. The aim of the YPG appears to be establishing a Kurdish strip in the north of Syria ,which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will not permit. The YPG has also been accused of ethnically cleansing the region’s majority Arab and Turkmen population.
Assad Losing Ground
With the country divided between many rival groups, Syrian army forces backed by Iran appear unable to maintain the forty year long rule of the “Assad Regime.” Hezbollah fighters still support the regime in the southern parts of Damascus and the Lebanese border in Qalamoun, but that support is not enough for the Assad forces to keep full control of those areas. The coastal provinces of Tartous and Latakia mainly populated by Syria’s ِAlawite minority are the last strongholds to remain under the full control of the regime. The Druze minority in the southern province of Al Suwaida are only interested in defending their territory. The US expects the Assad regime to collapse by the end of this year. What will happen next is a hard question to answer.
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