Beirut (dpa) – Rebels fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have begun to attack targets in the capital Damascus to prove they can reach even the most well defended sites, according to activists and analysts. “They're now focusing their operations on Damascus for two major reasons,” a Lebanese military expert, who requested anonymity, told dpa. “First, this tactic drags the capital into the year-long violence in the country. This in turn makes the Damascus people, who are mainly al-Assad's supporters, realize that fighting is coming close to their houses,” argued the expert. “The second reason is to make al-Assad's most-feared security apparatus appear feeble,” he added. Opposition fighters had concluded that they had failed in their attempt to control areas of the country due to their limited resources, he said. “So they have switched to hit-and-run attacks to avenge the regime's clampdown and sap its forces,” he continued. In an online video on Thursday the rebels even announced that they had formed a military council to coordinate operations in and around Damascus. Resistance fighters last week managed to enter al-Mezzeh, a neighborhood where many senior officials live, and engaged government forces, a Syrian activist based on the northern Lebanese border with Syria. “That signaled a new shift in the tactics employed by the opposition against al-Assad's regime,” he told dpa. According to Syria's official news agency, one soldier and three “terrorists” were killed in the al-Mezzeh fighting. The lightly armed fighters of the opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA), a grouping of army defectors, have recently been forced to retreat from several strongholds across the country. Their latest withdrawal occurred this week in the area of Deir al-Zour near the border with Iraq. But the fighting in al-Mezzeh proved that the FSA still had the “combat initiative,” Lebanese analyst Saad Kiwan told dpa. “This also suggests that the opposition's confrontations with the regime forces are likely to be more violent in the coming months,” he added. At least 27 people were killed last week when two bombings occurred near security centers in Damascus, according to state media. The government blamed the blasts on “terrorists.” The opposition rejected the government's claims, accusing al-Assad's regime of orchestrating the attacks to justify its crackdown on the rebellion. But army deserters, interviewed by dpa on the Lebanese-Syrian border, said they would not give up the fight. “We will fight until the Syrian regime falls,” said a defector, who only gave his name as Ibrahim. “If we stopped now, the regime would be emboldened to massacre more people,” he told dpa. Ibrahim admitted that the FSA has limited military resources. “We are facing a regular army which has tanks and warplanes,” he said. “If we do not receive aid from abroad, this regime will continue to kill more people,” he added. The West has so far refused to arm the Syrian opposition for fear that such a move might spark a civil war in the country. Al-Assad, facing unprecedented protests against his 12-year rule, has been accused of involvement in torture and arbitrary executions while being at pains to quell the dissent. The United Nations estimates that more than 8,000 people have died in Syria since a pro-democracy revolt started in March 2011. Meanwhile, the government insists that 2,000 security personnel have been killed by foreign-backed “terrorists gangs.” BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/LXbvO Tags: Assad, Damascus, Rebels, Syria Section: Features, Latest News, Levant, Syria
