Aleppo is next.

"Syrian government forces seized control Wednesday of the strategically important border city of Qusayr, which had been the site of nearly seven weeks of fighting. State-run TV credited an offensive "that led to the annihilation of a number of terrorists," the government's term for rebels. "Our heroic armed forces are always determined to confront any aggression that our beloved homeland may face in the future," an anchor on Syrian state television said. The Syrian opposition acknowledged the report. "Yes, dear brethren, this is a battle that we lost, but the war is not over yet," said the Homs Revolution News, which is associated with the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition activist network. One dissident group said Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese Shiite militia backed by Iran and the Syria government, was instrumental in the siege's success. "Hezbollah fighters took control of Al-Qusayr city after the regime forces covered their night attack with heavy bombing that was carried out by the regime armed forces since last night and continued into the morning," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "  CNN

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The Syrian rebellion is losing ground steadily.  The capture of Qusayr and parts of Damascus by the government has been accompanied by effective action in re-taking villages in the Hama Plain

The "opposition" reports the presence of 2,000 Hizbullah troops in the Aleppo area.  They are there to act as reinforcement to the Syrian Army for a major effort to re-capture the rebel held parts of the city of Aleppo.

Nasrullah's decision to intervene in Syria makes good militaty sense.  His strategic line of supply runs through Damascus International Airport.  A rebel triumph in Syria would effectively doom Hizbullah.

Does anyone think there will actually be a peace conference?  pl  

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/05/world/meast/syria-civil-war/?hpt=hp_t2

Comments

[Bill H]

CBS Evening News continues its campaign for intervention. They had Condi Rice on night before last, who did everything but threaten us with a mushroom cloud, and last night Pelly reported that France has confirmed Syrian use of chemical weapons. Pelley added that "Obama has said that the United States will not tolerate use of chemical weapons, but the White House says that more study is needed." Sheesh.

[Clifford Kiracofe]

The US Neocons endorse Brit Neocons per Syria:

http://www.foreignpolicyi.org/content/fpi-directors-and-staff-sign-henry-jackson-society-letter-uk-prime-minister-david-cameron-syria

The listing of activists is useful.

[Matthew]

Bill H: France confirmed that "someone" may have used chemical weapons. A pretty slender reed, don't you think?

[MartinJ]

The prognosis: Hezbullah weakened in Lebanon and tied down in Syria for the foreseeable future; Assad weakened but not defeated; and no complete takeover by Salafi-Jihadi Sunni groups. It almost seems that everyone is a winner from Turkey to Iraq, through Jordan and Israel.

[turcopolier]

martinJ

"tied down?" by a few thousand men deployed in Syria. hardly. pl

[William R. Cumming]

NOPEACE CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD IMO!

[DH]

Rice as NSA? Now is Obama wily enough to keep the media and Republicans hysterical in order to distract from his non-intervention in Syria?

[robt willmann]

Now, to make matters worse, especially regarding any peace conference about Syria, is the news that Tom Donilon, the national security advisor for president Obama, is resigning and that Obama is going to appoint Susan Rice as the new national security advisor.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2013/06/05/source-donilon-resigns-security-adviser/Y07eEwwAwil6jmwzykIN8J/story.html

And to make matters still worse, the AP article says that Obama will appoint Samantha Power, formerly of his Senate staff, his national security council, and his "Atrocities Prevention Board", to take Susan Rice's place as the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.

And to make matters worse than still worse, Samantha Power's husband is Cass Sunstein, he of the nefarious "nudging" philosophy, in which government nudges the unwashed masses in certain directions little by little. Sunstein had been the administrator of the White House Office of Administrative and Regulatory Affairs. There has been a lot of nudging going on in the U.S. since September 2001, from trying to get you to show an internal passport in order to fly domestically on a private airline, to tracking everyone who flies domestically, to claiming the authority to decide who flies on a private domestic airline, to government employees groping the private parts of children and adults at airports, to domestic warrantless wiretapping, and so on, culminating in the shutting down of the City of Boston while an unknown number of government agencies searched for a wounded teenager.

With Susan Rice and Samantha Power back in the sidesaddles, there will be a new impetus for the Syrian war to rage on. However, it should be amusing to see to what extent Mrs. Power Sunstein will snuggle up to the "rebels" and "activists" who are guided by the hidden hand of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the CIA, France, and who knows who else in the effort to overthrow the "brutal" Bashar al-Assad.

Needless to say, Russia and China better read the fine print of any U.N. resolutions proposed by Samantha Power, if she is confirmed by the U.S. Senate as ambassador.

[Alba Etie]

Col Lang
Trying to read the 'tea leaves ' in context of the new appointments - Ms Rice at NSC , and Ms Powers at the UN .IMO this will not affect what we are doing in Syria- that is we will not be undertaking any military action in support of the FSA or any other group. I also believe that other allied countries have made the same decision . As noted above France stated 'someone ' has used chemical weapons. I also wonder about how much back channel communications are ongoing between the Russian and the US leadership? The 'kabuki' theatrics about the IDF , the S 300s et al seems to have subsided the last twenty four hours. Now comes reports that the Russian have not yet sent the S 300's even. Could it be all the players to include Russia,China America & the EU - have decided that an al Nusra victory in the Levant helps no one besides maybe the Saudis ? Given the unrest in Turkey it looks like Erdogan has been kept from any no fly zone or other Syrian misadventures as well. My bet - again is both Ms Rice & Ms Powers will remain as muted on any Syrian intervention as they have been so far . Even Ms Greenspan today agreed that the chances for a Syrian intervention is waning .
We shall see.

[The beaver]

Bill H

Haven't you seen or heard the latest? Condi Rice is the resident expert on foreign policies and geopolitics on CBS News.

[The beaver]

Yep , using "evidence" procured by the journalists of "le Monde"

[Chris Bolan]

Micah Zenko at the Council on Foreign Relations offers a strong critique of Senator McCain and others advocating for stronger US military intervention at http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/06/04/no_plan_zone_syria_washington.

As he observes, “modest measures to aid the Syrian rebels won’t topple Assad…and despite protestations, even Washington’s hawks don’t want to go further.” This analysis highlights a basic strategic flaw inherent in the positions advanced by many of these advocates for a deeper US military commitment in Syria: they are not willing to commit the required military resources necessary to accomplish whatever strategic objective (rarely specified) they hope to accomplish. This is a recipe for a failed strategy that further damages American interests globally and regionally.

[Genie2]

There will be a peace conference if USA leans on Qatar and Saudi to cut the funds and guns.

[Alba Etie]

Amen

[FB Ali]

Another significant aspect of the Syrian government's victory in Qusayr is the losses inflicted on rebel forces, many of whom had moved in from Aleppo. This has weakened the rebel troops in Aleppo.

[Bill H]

Well, I'm only quoting Scott Pelley who said that France confirmed that Assad had used them. I did not mean to assert that I believed him.

[Eliot]

The peace talks always seemed pretty silly to me. Who on earth is Assad supposed to negotiate with? Even the rebels couldn't figure that one out, they ended up punting instead.

[turcopolier]

All

you can add Kuneitra to the list of places re-captured by the Syrian/HB forces. pl

[D]

First for reference: http://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/2012/04/islamists-force-50000-christians-to-flee-from-syrian-city-of-homs/
(Cristians fleeing Homs one year ago when the salafists took over)
Second point: SAA played this well. Isolate the town, do a surprise raid to divide up the city. Wait, prove and bombard. Let a relief column of rebels fight their way through into the city. Close gate. More probing and artillery strikes, and clear the surrounding countryside. Then an early morning (night?) attack that seized key positions and caused collapse of the defence. Nice mix of operational tempo.
Is SAA now the best Arab army? Have they been Hezbollah-ized?

[CK]

I suspect that Assad has read his Vietnam war History. Talk Talk -- fight fight. Assad appears to be winning tactically and strategically. The USA will intervene to prevent another victory as disheartening as Lebanon 2006. US Marines in Jordan have repositioned to the Syrian border.

[Fred]

I believe you've pointed out something very important and overlooked in the media reports. It could be even more significant depending on the composition of those forces given the fragmented nature of the rebels, could it not?

[Phil Cattar]

The tens of thousands of ordinary Syrians who demonstrated day after day to start this revolution were not guided or motivated by any hidden hand.They simply wanted a better life and not to be under the brutal,yes brutal, and corrupt regime of the Assad family.They had 40 years of the Assads.It was time for a new day.Their revolution was partially hijacked by Qatar and the Saudis.The Russians,Persians,Hizbullah and the Asad family acted........Obama,Clinton and Kerry talked threatened and pondered.And then they thought,threatened and pondered some more.I realize this is a very complicated situation with no easy answers.................Tens of thousands of innocent people have already been killed.Now Asad will get his revenge.He will hunt down and kill as many "traitors" as he can.We will watch it as we eat our dinner.Google "Hama Rules" and read what his father did in1982 to mostly innocent civilians.............

[Alba Etie]

How many marines have gone to the Syrian border in Jordan ? Who with any credible knowledge has said there is a US military deployed forward in Jordan?

[CK]

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/article/20130605/NEWS08/306050022/U-S-deploy-Patriots-F-16s-Jordan

http://www.debka.com/article/23019/Large-US-Marine-force-lands-in-Aqaba-to-deploy-on-Jordanian-Syrian-border

I would cite Press TV as credible source also.
The marines are there, itching to go into Syria and do that old marine corps thing. Do you wish to change the conversation from the actuality of the deployment to some meta discussion of the sources?

[turcopolier]

CK

IMO there is no deployment of US ground troops to Jordan for anything other exercises. pl