Military Analysist, Baladi News
Assad regime is seeking to present itself as a fighter of terrorism as he works with his allies to be a main player in the upcoming events in Syria and the middle east. The regime here is working on presenting the pattern of capacities that the International coalition lacks, which is represented in the huge number of militants on ground who are able to keep fighting even with a high rate of attrition as they are obedient forces ready to accomplish the dirtiest missions without hesitation.
This power that Assad's regime has is rare in the war arena in the middle east and the international coalition lacks this kind of power that's why it is working on mobilizing more countries on his side in the next operation in the region along with taking advantage of the local powers like Kurdish and Shiite militias and even regime forces and its allied militias.
Assad regime is working on mobilizing a power of nearly 150 thousand militants, 75 of which are from its regions through taking men as reservists along with forcible military service, not to mention the militants it plans to take from regions that it has made reconciliations with. This huge number of militants is a great temptation for the coalition to allow the regime to participate in the battle against ISIS, even on the minor fronts as the regime will accept in order to expand the regions of its control under the pretext of fighting ISIS.
On the other hand, Kurdish militias are seeking to reach enlarge the number of its militants to be between 60,0000 to 100,000 militants, but they seem to be unable to do so despite the policy of forcible recruitment they follow. The thing that puts a great pressure on those militias and could lead to delay the battle of al-Raqqah.
Moreover, regime is attacking on the axis of Aleppo-Maskanah to reach the city of Maskanah which is considered its first grand battle after the de-escalation agreement. On the one hand, this battle if won, will be a moral victory for the regime who can say that it managed to liberate a full region from the control of ISIS. On the other hand, the battle is considered an application of the regime to participate in the battle of al-Raqqah depending on the large number of militants it has, the thing that will compensate for the fragility of Kurdish militias.