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Syrian Army Moves to Retake 'Cradle' of Revolution

by Edward Yeranian

   CAIRO --

   Arab media reports that Syrian government forces have taken control of
   all of the country's southern border with Jordan, surrounding remaining
   rebel forces in one corner of the city of Daraa, where the revolution
   against President Bashar al-Assad erupted in March 2011.

   Syrian state TV showed residents of the Daraa suburb of Oum al-Mayaden
   cheering government forces after they took control of their town
   Tuesday.

   A middle-aged resident told journalists he is pleased the Syrian Army
   had taken control, restoring peace and security to the area.

   Arab media reported Syrian government troops had taken all of the
   border area with Jordan and surrounded remaining rebel forces inside
   one district of Daraa.

   Rebel commanders complained Russia and the Syrian government had broken
   an agreement for them to peacefully disarm.

   Opposition analyst Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for
   Human Rights told al-Arabiya TV Syrian government forces were
   attempting to capture the final pocket of Islamic State militants near
   the border with the Israeli occupied Golan Heights.

   Syrian government media showed photos of what it claimed were
   Western-made rockets and other ammunition handed over by rebel fighters
   when they agreed to disarm.

   Syria expert Joshua Landis, who heads the Middle East program at the
   University of Oklahoma, tells VOA the Syrian government is putting an
   end to the last independent rebel militias around Daraa, which in
   effect signals the death knell of the revolution against President
   Bashar al-Assad that began in 2011.

   "This is the end of the revolution, so there will be a new phase,
   because once the south is finished and consolidated, or more or less
   consolidated, the regime is going to move its best troops up to Idlib
   province and it is going to want to take back as much land as it
   possibly can from Turkey and we do not know how this is going to work
   out, because Turkey is not going to allow the Syrian Army to drive the
   tens of thousands of rebels who have collected in Idlib into Turkey,"
   he said.

   Landis says U.S. envoy Brett McGurk has called Idlib "the biggest
   collection of al-Qaida forces seen since 9/11." Rebels from other parts
   of the country were allowed to gather in Idlib as part of an agreement
   with Syria's government to evacuate areas they formerly controlled.

   In other developments, al-Arabiya TV reported U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG
   militia fighters had surrounded Islamic State militants near Deir ez
   Zor in the east of the country.

   In Tehran, Iranian Revolutionary Guard deputy commander Hossein Salami
   claimed his forces were putting together a so-called "Islamic army" to
   fight Israel near the Golan Heights. Syrian media reported on Monday
   that Israeli planes bombed the large T-4 airbase, outside of Homs.
   Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV claimed several Iranian advisors or
   pro-Iranian militia fighters may have been killed in the raid.