BEIRUT: Momentum that has swept Syrian rebels to a series of swift victories over President Bashar Assad appears to have slowed in two major attacks aimed at capturing the cities of Aleppo in the north and Deraa in the south.
The reasons include a determined military effort by the government and its foreign allies to stem the tide of setbacks, and shortcomings in rebel strategy and weaponry that have made it harder for them to capture two cities of strategic value.
This does not necessarily mean Assad, his sway mostly confined to western Syria, is on the cusp of a major fightback. The army and allied militia remain overstretched in a multisided war pitting them against ISIS, Al-Qaeda and more moderate rebels.
But rebels say the going is proving harder than expected in cities where government forces are well entrenched and drawing on air power which the insurgents have lacked the means to confront throughout the four-year-long war.