Moderate rebels take key southern base in Syria, dealing blow to Assad

Rebels announced the capture of a strategic army base in southern Syria on Tuesday, the latest of several sweeping offensives by forces battling President Bashar al Assad, according to the Washington Post.

A coalition of moderate rebel factions known as the Southern Front took control of the Brigade 52 base by early afternoon, spokesman Issam al Reis said. Brigade 52 is the largest military installation in Daraa province, which borders Jordan, and is key to the defense of northern routes leading to the Syrian capital, Damascus.

“The base has been liberated, and we are in full control,” Reis said, speaking over the phone.

The loss of the base is another blow to Assad’s forces, which have recently suffered a string of battlefield defeats. A largely Islamist rebel alliance that includes al Qaeda’s powerful Syria affiliate, Jabhat al Nusra, has seized most of northwestern Idlib province. The so-called Islamic State militant group has captured territory from government forces­ in the east as well as the ancient city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site in central Syria.

The rebel and militant advances­ have raised questions among analysts about the durability of the Assad regime, which has weathered the civil war because of military and financial support from Russia and Iran. The four-year-old conflict has killed an estimated 220,000 people and displaced millions.

The attack on Tuesday marks another success for the largely moderate rebels fighting for the Southern Front, which is backed by the West and has received weapons and money from Arab countries.

The umbrella group is supported by a military operations center in Amman, the capital of U.S. ally Jordan.