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Source: http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-heating-battle-for-southern-syria
The Battle for Southern Syria Heating Up
(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Ehud Yaari - Rebel militias in Syria are recording significant successes in the region between Damascus and the Israeli and Jordanian borders. Syrian army units in the south are thinly spread, often isolated, and experiencing low morale. In particular, Syrian army Brigades 61 and 90 have suffered losses so great as to render them operationally ineffective. Rebel factions in the south comprise some 20,000 fighters, and in recent operations they have deployed 500 fighters for a single attack. Assad does not have sufficient forces to protect the southern sector, which is proving to be the regime's soft underbelly. The writer is a fellow with The Washington Institute and a Middle East commentator for Israel's Channel Two television.