MAALULA, Syria: Syrian troops retook the ancient Christian town of Maalula from rebels yesterday, a day after President Bashar Al Assad said the three-year old civil war was turning in his favour.
During the operation, Al-Manar television, the broadcaster of Assad’s close Lebanese ally Hezbollah, said three of its staffers were killed.
“The army has taken full control of Maalula and restored security and stability. Terrorism has been defeated in Qalamun,” a security official said.
A journalist in Maalula said the Al Safir hotel, which rebels had been using as a base, was almost completely destroyed, with a facade that gave on to a cliff having collapsed.
“The village was taken quickly. This morning we took Al Sarkha village” on a hill overlooking the town, “then we came towards Maalula,” a soldier said.
Those residents who had not fled Maalula in previous fighting were nowhere to be found.
The United States yesterday took issue with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s analysis that the bitter conflict was turning in his favor, saying it had become a “war of attrition.”
“Our analysis remains what it has been, that this is a war of attrition and neither side has been able to deliver or hold onto significant gains,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
She told reporters that she was not “going to give ground game updates. Certainly our efforts to engage with the opposition continue.”
Assad, quoted by the state news agency Sana, said Sunday that his troops were gaining the upper hand in the three-year war that has left more than 150,000 people dead.
“This is a turning point in the crisis, both militarily in terms of the army’s achievements in the war against terror, and socially in terms of national reconciliation processes and growing awareness of the truth behind the (attacks) targeting the country,” Sana quoted Assad as saying.
Psaki said it was only “naturally” that Assad would make such a statement.
“I don’t think that’s a particularly surprising comment from him, that he’s winning,” she added.
But she said it would be wrong to assume that the war would eventually swing in his favor.
“There is broad concern and there has been for some time about his actions. The international community is focused on this, and I don’t think we’re going to make a prediction of the outcome here,” Psaki added.
AFP
