Steady advances by Syrian opposition fighter on key fronts in Syria mean Bashar al-Assad is under more military pressure than at any point in the four-year-old war.
After Assad’s loss of Palmyra, a symbolic and militarily strategic city, and nearly all of Idlib province, he appears to be circling his wagons more closely to a western region that includes Damascus, Homs, Hama and the coast.
Sources say Assad is expecting extra support from Iran and Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.
Assad still believes the West will eventually rehabilitate him as a partner in the fight against Islamic State.
Assad has also lost Iraqi Shi’ite militiamen who had been fighting alongside Syrian forces. They went home to fight Islamic State after it captured Mosul and other Iraqi cities last June. The sudden advances also added to the military pressures facing Iran both in Syria and Iraq.
Insurgent groups in the north and south of Syria have emerged as the war’s most dynamic force in the past two months. They are better organized and armed than before and are believed to have received new support from Assad’s regional enemies.