AFP, Damascus :
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told his troops on Wednesday they were close to winning the country’s seven-year war after inflicting a succession of defeats on rebels.
Early last year, government forces held just 17 percent of national territory but a series of blistering offensives has since forced the rebels out of many of their strongholds, putting Assad’s government back in control of nearly two-thirds of the country.
“Our date with victory is near,” Assad wrote in an open letter to the rank and file.
“They (the rebels) were ultimately forced to leave – humiliated, rolled back, their tails between their legs – after you gave them a taste of bitter defeat.”
Much of the territory was recaptured without any ground fighting as the rebels reluctantly agreed to leave their bombed out enclaves in Russian-protected convoys.
The army has been bolstered in its offenisves by Russian air strikes, Iranian military advisers and militiamen from Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Government troops are now moppinging up the remaining rebel pockets in the south, and last week Assad promised a similar offensive against the rebels’ last major stronghold – Idlib province in the northwest. Meanwhile, The UN peace envoy for Syria said Tuesday that he plans to host Iran, Russia and Turkey for talks in September on finalising a committee to write a new Syrian constitution.
Staffan de Mistura, whose past efforts to push forward a Syrian peace deal have achieved no breakthroughs, was tasked with setting up the committee during a Russian-backed congress held in Sochi in January.
“The Special Envoy looks forward to holding formal consultations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey, very early in September in Geneva, in order to begin to finalise the constitutional committee,” de Mistura’s office said in a statement.
Russia and Iran have supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad through the conflict, while Turkey has backed opposition groups.
The UN envoy told the Security Council last week that he wants to have the constitutional committee in place before world leaders meet at the General Assembly in late September.
The Syrian government has expressed reservations about the proposal but in May, it sent a list of names of officials to take part in the new diplomatic effort. The opposition recently also sent its list of delegates.
More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria’s war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
Meanwhile, a jihadist group has released videos of a Japanese journalist and an Italian man held captive in Syria in which they appeal for their release, US-based monitors said Tuesday.
The two men – Japanese freelance journalist Jumpei Yasuda and Italian national Alessandro Sandrini – appear in two separate videos that are nonetheless similar in their staging and were released by the SITE group, which tracks white supremacist and jihadist organizations.
SITE did not say which group was responsible for the videos.
Both men are shown kneeling in front of a wall wearing orange jumpsuits while armed men dressed head-to-toe in black stand behind them.
Jumpei is thought to have been abducted by the Al-Nusra Front, a former Al-Qaeda affiliate, in northern Syria in 2015.
He identifies himself as Korean in the video but speaks Japanese, giving the recording date as July 25, stating that he is in a bad situation and asking for help.
Sandrini gives a different date, July 19, and says that it is his last request to the Italian government.
The Italian hostage was kidnapped in Turkey in October 2016 before being taken to Syria, according to reports in the Italian media. He is believed to be from Brescia and is said to be around 32 years old.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told his troops on Wednesday they were close to winning the country’s seven-year war after inflicting a succession of defeats on rebels.
Early last year, government forces held just 17 percent of national territory but a series of blistering offensives has since forced the rebels out of many of their strongholds, putting Assad’s government back in control of nearly two-thirds of the country.
“Our date with victory is near,” Assad wrote in an open letter to the rank and file.
“They (the rebels) were ultimately forced to leave – humiliated, rolled back, their tails between their legs – after you gave them a taste of bitter defeat.”
Much of the territory was recaptured without any ground fighting as the rebels reluctantly agreed to leave their bombed out enclaves in Russian-protected convoys.
The army has been bolstered in its offenisves by Russian air strikes, Iranian military advisers and militiamen from Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Government troops are now moppinging up the remaining rebel pockets in the south, and last week Assad promised a similar offensive against the rebels’ last major stronghold – Idlib province in the northwest. Meanwhile, The UN peace envoy for Syria said Tuesday that he plans to host Iran, Russia and Turkey for talks in September on finalising a committee to write a new Syrian constitution.
Staffan de Mistura, whose past efforts to push forward a Syrian peace deal have achieved no breakthroughs, was tasked with setting up the committee during a Russian-backed congress held in Sochi in January.
“The Special Envoy looks forward to holding formal consultations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey, very early in September in Geneva, in order to begin to finalise the constitutional committee,” de Mistura’s office said in a statement.
Russia and Iran have supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad through the conflict, while Turkey has backed opposition groups.
The UN envoy told the Security Council last week that he wants to have the constitutional committee in place before world leaders meet at the General Assembly in late September.
The Syrian government has expressed reservations about the proposal but in May, it sent a list of names of officials to take part in the new diplomatic effort. The opposition recently also sent its list of delegates.
More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria’s war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
Meanwhile, a jihadist group has released videos of a Japanese journalist and an Italian man held captive in Syria in which they appeal for their release, US-based monitors said Tuesday.
The two men – Japanese freelance journalist Jumpei Yasuda and Italian national Alessandro Sandrini – appear in two separate videos that are nonetheless similar in their staging and were released by the SITE group, which tracks white supremacist and jihadist organizations.
SITE did not say which group was responsible for the videos.
Both men are shown kneeling in front of a wall wearing orange jumpsuits while armed men dressed head-to-toe in black stand behind them.
Jumpei is thought to have been abducted by the Al-Nusra Front, a former Al-Qaeda affiliate, in northern Syria in 2015.
He identifies himself as Korean in the video but speaks Japanese, giving the recording date as July 25, stating that he is in a bad situation and asking for help.
Sandrini gives a different date, July 19, and says that it is his last request to the Italian government.
The Italian hostage was kidnapped in Turkey in October 2016 before being taken to Syria, according to reports in the Italian media. He is believed to be from Brescia and is said to be around 32 years old.
