WASHINGTON POST: After nearly two years of fighting, Syria’s vaunted war machine is showing serious cracks as emboldened rebels snap up more bases and airfields and force army units to retrench behind defensive lines in major cities, Western officials and military analysts say.
Bolstered by a steady flow of arms from foreign backers, opposition forces have scored a s eries of tactical victories in the Damascus suburbs in recent days and are advancing steadily toward the city’s airport, adding to what some analysts view as a sense of momentum that has been building since late summer.
Several independent military experts have pointed to a perceptible shift in the rebels’ fortunes beginning in mid-November, around the time reports began to surface of Syrian helicopters and planes being shot down by shoulder-fired missiles. Western and Middle Eastern intelligence officials say up to 40 of the portable antimissile systems have been smuggled into rebel-held parts of Syria since late summer.…. (more)
