In Syria, Stalemate Remains Despite Regime Victories

The Syrian rebels and regime fought each other to a stalemate some time ago, and victory will not be possible until one or more key pillars of support for either side is weakened or removed. The majority of rebel fighters, including members of Jabhat al-Nusra and other Islamist factions and their families, have left the city of Homs since May 5, when a cease-fire agreement was brokered by Saudi Arabia and Iran. The regime now controls the majority of Homs province, which is significant because it lies at the crossroads between Damascus and the coast and serves as an important supply line for the regime.

The city of Homs itself, however, has been more of a symbolic than a strategic objective. The rebels entrenched in the city had been under so much pressure during a nearly three-year siege that, aside from symbolism, their value was largely in tying up the advancing loyalist forces. Despite the loyalists' gains, the regime has been unable to hold firm control over all of Syria's most important geographic and economic mainstays — including Damascus, Homs, the Alawite coast and Aleppo — at once, and the battle is far from over.