Syrian Government Steps Up Efforts To Crush The Last Rebel Enclaves Near Damascus

Reuters: Assad steps up efforts to crush last besieged enclaves

BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - The Syrian government stepped up its efforts on Thursday to retake the opposition’s last besieged enclaves, as rebels prepared to withdraw from one and a newspaper reported an ultimatum against another.

President Bashar al-Assad scored a major victory this month by retaking eastern Ghouta, the biggest rebel stronghold near Damascus, putting his forces in by far their strongest position since the early months of the seven-year-old civil war.

The United States, Britain and France launched a volley of air strikes on Saturday against three Syrian targets in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons strike during the Ghouta assault.

But the limited Western intervention, far from any contested battlefront, has shown no sign of having any impact on the ground, where Assad’s forces have pressed on with his offensive.

The last rebels withdrew from eastern Ghouta hours after the Western bombing. Since then, the government has focused on regaining four less populous encircled enclaves.

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Update: Rebels in Syria's south brace for onslaught, fear wider war (Washington Post)

WNU Editor:  It is only a question of time before these bastions fall. After that .... the focus will shift to the rebel strongholds along the Jordan border.