Beirut--President Bashar al-Assad's regime was reeling Thursday from a series of military setbacks after rebels seized a major provincial capital and a key border post in less than a week.
Experts said the losses were a reflection of the regime's weariness after more than four years of civil war and increasing regional efforts to counter Iran's backing for Assad.
The taking by rebels late Wednesday of the last border crossing with Jordan in loyalist hands and three days earlier of provincial capital Idlib have dealt major blows to the regime, experts said.
And Wednesday's seizure of parts of a Palestinian refugee camp inside Damascus by the Islamic State group has shown the growing reach of a jihadist force already in control of large parts of Syria and Iraq.
"It's indicative of a problem the regime has that has been increasingly obvious -- it has a manpower shortage," said Noah Bonsey, a Syria expert at the International Crisis Group.
"It has constraints on how much ground it can gain and how much it can hold outside of its core areas."
Rebels seized the border crossing with Jordan after heavy fighting, leaving the government with no presence on a key frontier.
It was the latest regime loss in the southern Daraa province, after rebels took the ancient town of Bosra al-Sham last week and seized an important army base in January.
And Saturday's capture of Idlib in northwestern Syria by Al-Qaeda's affiliate, Al-Nusra Front, made it the second provincial capital in rebel hands after IS-controlled Raqa.
By taking the city, Al-Nusra was able to consolidate its hold over a large area of Syria bordering Turkey after heavy street fighting and regime air strikes that reportedly killed at least 130 people.
Yezid Sayigh, senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Centre, said the military setbacks are "significant losses for the regime" even if "they don't change the overall strategic picture".
AFP
