Bakkur Salim, a Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander in Qalamoun, confirmed the opposition has rejected a new offer from the Assad regime to open a Damascus-Baghdad road, after it failed to achieve any progress in the fighting, according to an Al-Arabiya report.
Salim claimed that the opposition agreed not to open the road until the Assad regime releases the female detainees of its prisons.
The commander explained that the Damascus-Baghdad road is the main artery for the Assad regime to brings arms, ammunition, and Shiite militias from Iraq to fight, claiming the rebels blocked the road in order to stop the arrival of human and military reinforcements, particularly to Seine Military Airport in the same area.
This has forced the regime to change its Iraqi supply-line to Homs, using Seine Airport to receive reinforcements from Iraq which the rebels can easily target.
FSA battalions succeeded in cutting off the road between Damascus and Baghdad over 70 days ago, where the regime's army has lost more than 100 fighters and dozens of vehicles trying to restore it.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
