Vast swaths of northern Syria, especially in the province of Idlib, have slipped
out of the hands of President Bashar Assad, if not quite out of his reach. The
area is now a de facto liberated zone, though the daily attacks by Damascus’ air
force and the shelling from the handful of checkpoints and bases regime forces
have fallen back to are reminders that the rebel hold on the territory remains
fluid and fragile.
What is remarkable is that this substantial strip of “free” Syria has been
patched together in the past 18 months by military defectors, students,
tradesmen, farmers and pharmacists who have not only withstood the Syrian army’s
withering fire but in some instances repelled it using a hodgepodge of limited,
light weaponry. The feat is even more amazing when one considers the disarray
among the outside powers supplying arms to the loosely allied band of
rebels...
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=69141&cid=31&fromval=1&frid=31&seccatid=91&s1=1