Syrian rebels make gains near Damascus
Instead of battling each other, fighters in the south use weapons abandoned by government forces to take territory.
It is a short drive from Deraa province to the Syrian capital, which is why rebels have been calling their offensive The Road to Damascus. Unlike other battle fronts across the country, in the south opposition fighters have not turned their guns on each other.
Instead they have helped themselves to weapons abandoned by government forces, which has enabled them to take territory in Deraa for instance.
While opposition fighters in other cities have been losing territory to government forces, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters and the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, outcomes of battles in the southern part of Syria have been to the rebels’ advantage.
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reports from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon.