The failure of the Geneva peace talks has resulted in the escalation of the Syrian Free Army operations, according to a report by AFP.
On Saturday US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Jakarta that the Damascus regime has stonewalled the Geneva peace talks with increased support from Iran, Hezbollah and Russia.
“Russia needs to be a part of the solution and not be distributing so much more weapons and so much more aid that they’re in fact enabling Assad to double-down,” Kerry said.
Saudi Arabia has been a leading provider of military support to the Sunni-led rebels in a bid to counter the regional influence of Shiite Iran, a key ally of the Assad regime.
But analysts said that with the failure of the latest round of peace talks, the regime and rebels are likely to ratchet up military operations.
“It will probably get worse before it gets better,” said Volker Perthes, director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
“Both sides will try to show that they can change the balance on the ground in their favor, and that they aren’t forced to negotiate out of weakness.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, reported a surge of fighting Monday around Yabrud, on a strategic highway linking Damascus and the central city of Homs.
The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP Syrian warplanes dropped explosive-packed barrels on the town’s outskirts, and that fighting had erupted in the nearby rebel-held towns of Ras al-Maara and Al-Sahel.
Fighters from the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah are helping regime forces in the Yabrud offensive, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday said it was only “a question of time” before the rebels are defeated.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Jakarta that the Damascus regime “stonewalled” in Geneva with “increased support from Iran, from Hezbollah and from Russia.”
“Russia needs to be a part of the solution and not be distributing so much more weapons and so much more aid that they’re in fact enabling Assad to double-down.”