A spokesman for the Free Syrian Army has said that the evacuation of fighters from the environs of the capital Damascus occurred because the regime pressured truce deals on the besieged areas while residents suffered from a shortage of supplies and food.
Major Issam Al Reis explained: “The Southern Front was not able to reach these areas to break the siege for a number of reasons, including military support, the quality of weapons, the quality of targets remaining in the south, and the poor coordination and internal problems which occurred at one stage of the life of the Southern Front.”
Reis denied that the Southern Front had dedicated itself to fighting groups accused of connections to ISIS west of Daraa at the expense of the fronts against the regime forces. He said that the fighters dedicated to fighting ISIS “do not comprise more than five percent of the total number of Southern Front factions, and the fronts with the regime are still active — there is continuous fighting. Last month in the abandoned [barracks] area in central Daraa and the area of Jubata in the northern Quneitra countryside, in addition to battles in Khirbet Ghazalah.”
On the other hand, Reis warned about the repeat of the scene in Aleppo in the south and described it as “inevitable.” He said that the regime now has a priority in Aleppo but it will not stop there. “It will continue its actions and head toward the south. This is what we’ve been warned about by fighters on the fronts. If we do not move the fronts, the regime will move from the north to the south, and we will meet the same fate as our brothers in Aleppo,” he said.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
