Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flew out of Damascus to an unknown destination on Sunday, as rebels said they entered the capital with no sign of the army’s departure.
Syrian army forces left their positions outside Damascus on Saturday night, fleeing rebel forces.
The army said it was “reinforcing” defense lines around the capital, which appeared to have collapsed.
People ride a tank in the Syrian city of Daraa. Government forces left many weapons behind – Sam Hariri/AFP via Getty
Mohammed al-Rahmoun, Syria’s interior minister, once said that there is “a very strong line of defense outside Damascus and no one can break it”. But Syrian opposition fighters earlier on Sunday rejected this, when they arrived in the capital for the first time since 2018.
The Syrian regime has retreated from the cities of Aleppo, Hama and Homs in quick succession since the rebel offensive began two weeks ago.
In the civil war from 2011 to 2016, the Assad regime turned the tide against the opposition forces with the help of Russian airstrikes and Hezbollah forces.
Both Moscow and Iran, Hezbollah’s main sponsor, have their minds elsewhere on the conflict elsewhere.
It has left the Syrian army without much support in the face of a lightning strike led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS).
Political analysts told The Telegraph that low pay and poor morale and knowledge are hampering the military’s effectiveness.
“Syria’s war has never been better – it has been ruled by fear and terror, backed and supported by the Russians since 2015 who have been providing firepower and guidance. Most of the officers were chosen because they were close to Assad,” said Hamish de Bretton Gordon, a retired British army chief and chemical weapons adviser to NGOs. in Syria and Iraq.
“The generals … are more focused on looting and looting than creating defensive positions and commanding their forces,” said Greg Waters, of the Middle East Institute.
The military has largely avoided major fighting since a ceasefire with the rebels in 2020 at the start of the pandemic.
Protesters remove the Syrian government flag from an official building in Salamiyah, east of Hama – Ghaith Alsayed/AP
“The fall of the army is a sign of a wider fall in Syria,” said Jihad Yazigi, editor-in-chief of Syria Report.
“There is a deep sense in government areas that things are not just improving, but that there is no hope that things will get better,” he added.
Stephen Cook, a Middle East expert at the Foreign Affairs Council, told The Telegraph that most of the Syrian army was made up of recruits “who don’t want to be there”.
“Only elite units like the Republican Guard can be trusted to fight,” he added. “That’s why Assad brought in Hezbollah.”
Mr Cook described President Bashar al-Assad’s army as a “Soviet-style” army with major supply and logistics problems.
Syria has also become a major producer and trafficker of narcotics in recent years, which has made government agencies such as the military effectively the nodes of criminal networks.
A large portrait of the Syrian president overlooks the deserted streets of Damascus – Omar Sanadiki/AP
With his soldiers retreating to all sides, Assad announced this week that he would raise their salaries by 50 percent, a move that experts say is an attempt to resolve long-standing issues.
“The fact that the security forces have melted away is surprising, but not surprising, to be honest,” added Natasha Hall, co-director of the CSIS Middle East Program.
“They were not in the habit of opposing something like this.
“We forget that they also lost many people in this war, we forget that, you know, [Assad’s] The Alawite movement has been poor in the mountains for decades.
“It doesn’t seem like they won much from this government. It is the fact that the Assad regime used the narrative of the church to make them believe that this is an issue for them. “
“We forget that they lost a lot of people in this whole war, we forget that, you know, his Alawite group has been poor in the mountains for many decades.
“It doesn’t seem like they won much from this government. It is the fact that the Assad regime used the narrative of the church to make them believe that this is an issue for them. “
A government military vehicle was left on the side of the road near Hama – Omar Haj Kadour/AFP via Getty
The good preparation, strategy and skillful use of information by the rebels seems to have put the Syrian army in fear. HTS consists of officers, special forces units, drone forces and night-time commandos.
“The rebels who are fighting today are a very different army from the one that the government has fought in the past. They are better equipped and disciplined… I guess Turkey had a strong hand in this. They are the ones who have the most to gain,” said Mr. Manzi.
A large number of deserters have laid down their hands and surrendered to the rebels, with a long line forming in Idlib after they were given amnesty.
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