'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Russia, which has provided military and political support key to the Syrian regime, acknowledged for the first time on Thursday that President Bashar Assad is losing control and the rebels may win the civil war that has dragged on for 21 months and claimed an estimated 40,000 lives.
"You see a strategic shift in which the rebels are now actively targeting the regime's supply lines and air bases as a way to limit its effectiveness in the air, which is the rebels' biggest weakness," said Elizabeth O'Bagy, a research analyst at the Institute for the Study of War.
She said the only way the rebels will be able to take over the cities and notch up strategic victories is if they get a substantial boost in weapons capability and training.
