Baladi News
The intensification of fighting on most fronts between the Syrian opposition and regime forces backed by Iranian militias, particularly in Daraa and the Syrian desert, has forced the international parties to postpone the Syrian talks in Astana and Geneva, which may make the outcomes of the ongoing battles the basis of future understandings in any round of talks.
After the Syrian opposition has managed to advance on Daraa and seize control over al-Manshiyya neighborhood, along with achieving great progress on the Syrian desert and breaking the siege on the eastern Qalamoun, regime forces tilted the balance and closed all the outlets before the Free Syrian Army to fight ISIS, as regime forces and the Iranian militias continued advancing inside the Syrian desert till they reached al-Tanef border crossing with Jordan despite the shy American strikes on two military convoys. By this advancement, the Syrian opposition no more exists on any fronts with ISIS.
Observers are skeptical about Washington's desire to limit Iran's influence in Syria or preventing it from completing the project of Tehran-Baghdad-Damascus road, as the continuation of battles along with the regime's progress to expel ISIS from Deir al-Zor will make Iran's mission easier.
This comes in light of the further complication of the Gulf crisis and the fear of the Syrian opposition that the crisis will overshadow the Syrian file, which is already suffering from a blockage in the political process in favor of progress in the military solution.
A western source declared that there are European endeavors to hold a new round of negotiations in Geneva and that officials of the European Union are concluding intensive talks in order to push the political operation in Syria forward.
On the other hand, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Tuesday that a new round of peace talks on Syria is likely to take place in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, in early July. At the same time, regime forces have stepped up their attacks on the city of Daraa, as a footage showed that the regime's helicopters dropped more than 20 barrel bombs loaded with napalm on the city. The Syrian opposition National Coalition condemned the attacks saying that "Assad is burning Daraa with napalm". It also called upon all members of the international community to shoulder the responsibility regarding the repeat and random use of the internationally-prohibited napalm by regime forces against civilians in Syria.