Reuters BEIRUT: Syrian government forces recaptured four northwestern villages Tuesday as they pounded the area with airstrikes in a counter-attack on insurgents threatening strongholds of President Bashar Assad, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Government warplanes by Tuesday afternoon had launched more than 100 airstrikes since the previous night on parts of the Sahl al-Ghab plain seized by rebels in an advance this month, the Observatory said.
This month’s insurgent advance into the plain had brought rebels, including the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, to the eastern edge of mountains that form the traditional heartland of Assad’s Alawite people, forcing an army retreat to new defensive lines.
The four-year-long war has gathered pace recently, intensifying on major front lines including near Damascus, where a government airstrike on a marketplace this week killed 100 people, and in the southern city of Deraa, where the government is battling a new rebel attempt to seize the entire city.
All areas are of vital importance to Assad, who with help from his regional allies Iran and Hezbollah is seeking to shore up control over western areas of the country after losing much of the rest to groups including ISIS.
The rebel advance into Sahl al-Ghab not only threatened the Alawite mountains but opened a route south to the city of Hama, one of the western population centers seen as a priority for Assad.
A source in the Syrian military, which by Assad’s own admission faces a manpower problem, said the army was advancing in the area. Pro-rebel activists on Twitter reported fierce battles between an alliance of insurgent groups and government forces in the area.
The army also launched a third day of airstrikes on the town of Douma to the northeast of Damascus, the target of Sunday’s marketplace air raid, the Observatory said. Fighting between rebel and government forces was also reported in the nearby area of Harasta.
Sunday’s airstrike in Douma drew condemnation from the United States, which says Assad has lost the legitimacy to rule.
The violence underscores the huge challenges facing a new diplomatic effort to advance potential solutions to the conflict that has killed an estimated quarter of a million people and driven more than 11 million from their homes.
The Observatory estimates Assad controls a quarter of Syria, including cities where the bulk of the population live.
Syria accuses U.N. envoy of bias amid peace push
DAMASCUS: Syria Tuesday accused U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura of bias and said his recent statements condemning deadly regime airstrikes on a market that killed some 100 people show he lacks objectivity.
The spat coincides with the Security Council endorsement of a recently announced plan by de Mistura aimed at setting the stage for new peace talks to end the country’s long-running civil war.
It is not the first time the Syrian government has accused de Mistura – and other U.N. envoys before him – of prejudice in the Syrian conflict.
In a statement Monday, de Mistura condemned the government air raids in the eastern Damascus suburb of Douma, one of the deadliest since Syria’s crisis began in March 2011.
He called it “unacceptable under any circumstances.”
The airstrikes hit a vegetable market in the suburb, a stronghold of the Army of Islam rebel group.
The Syrian government said Tuesday that de Mistura’s statement showed he relied only on “propaganda circulated within circles known for their hostility toward Syria.”
Commenting on the Syrian government’s criticism, Vannina Maestracci, a spokeswoman for the U.N. secretary-general, told reporters in New York Tuesday: “We stand by the statement he issued yesterday.”
The Security Council Monday endorsed a plan by de Mistura to set the stage for new peace talks.
The Syrian National Coalition, Syria’s main opposition group, called Tuesday for a U.N. Security Council meeting over the situation in Douma, where government airstrikes continued for a third consecutive day.
Monday’s Security Council statement, the first of its kind in two years, urges a political transition and backs a plan to create working groups to discuss ending the war.
Analysts said the vote showed new resolve to address Syria’s conflict, but cautioned it was only a first step and that serious differences between the two sides remained.
The 16-point council statement backed an approach outlined by de Mistura last month after talks with parties to the 4-year-old conflict.
It proposes four working groups with members from the regime and opposition to discuss safety and protection, counterterrorism, political and legal issues and reconstruction. The council urged “a Syrian-led political process leading to a political transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people.”
It called for “an inclusive transitional governing body with full executive powers” to be formed with “mutual consent while ensuring continuity of governmental institutions.”
It made no mention of President Bashar Assad, whose future has long been a sticking point in peace talks.
The vote follows a flurry of diplomatic activity led by regime backer Moscow, which in recent weeks hosted Syrian opposition figures and officials from Saudi Arabia, a key opposition backer.
The council’s vote reflects “a unanimity that is unprecedented for several years,” said analyst Karim Emile Bitar, a senior fellow at the IRIS think tank in Paris. “I think it reflects a common awareness of the general state of fatigue in both parties, the fatigue and even exhaustion of both sides,” he added.
But Bitar said the plan was only a “first step.”
“At this stage, neither side is willing to make additional concessions that could allow this rapprochement to have concrete effects on the ground.”
Andrey Baklitskiy, an expert at Moscow’s PIR-Centre think tank, said there was “nothing revolutionary” in the Security Council statement, and it did not contradict previous Russian statements on the issue. “The text is fairly evasive, it is not clear on the implementation,” he added.
The opposition National Coalition also responded cautiously.
“The problem is that the plan puts equal importance on the transition process and the other points, while for us the transition is the priority,” said Coalition member Samir Nashar.
Bassam Abu Abdullah, an analyst in Damascus who is close to the regime, also said de Mistura’s focus was misguided.
“The most important thing is the war on terror – without that we can’t talk about anything else,” he told AFP.
Haytham Manna, an opposition figure from outside the National Coalition, said efforts were already under way to find members for the four committees. “The committees will work at their own pace and the Security Council will get involved if there are blockages and vote on resolutions when there are advances in different areas,” he added.
ISIS beheads leading Syrian antiquities scholar in Palmyra
Reuters DAMASCUS: ISIS militants beheaded one of Syria's most prominent antiquities scholars in the ancient town of Palmyra, then strapped his body from one of the town's Roman columns, Syrian state media and an activist group said Wednesday.
The killing of 81-year-old Khaled al-Asaad was the latest atrocity perpetrated by the militant group, which has captured a third of both Syria and Iraq. Since ISIS overran Palmyra in May, there have been fears the extremists, who have destroyed famed archaeological sites in Iraq, would demolish its 2,000-year-old Roman-era city at the town's edge, one of the Mideast's most spectacular archaeological sites.
According to Syrian state news agency SANA and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, al-Assad was beheaded Tuesday in a square outside the town's museum. The Observatory, which has a network of activists on the ground in Syria, said dozens of people gathered to witness the killing. Al-Asaad had been held by the ISIS for about a month, it added.
His body was then taken to Palmyra's archaeological site and hung from one of the Roman columns, Maamoun Abdulkarim, the head of the Antiquities and Museums Department in Damascus, told SANA.
Al-Asaad was "one of the most important pioneers in Syrian archaeology in the 20th century," Abdulkarim said. ISIS had tried to extract information from him about where some of the town's treasures had been hidden to save them from the militants, the antiquities chief also said.
SANA said al-Asaad had been in charge of Palmyra's archaeological site for four decades until 2003, when he retired. After retiring, al-Asaad worked as an expert with the Antiquities and Museums Department.
Since falling to ISIS, Palmyra's ancient site has remained intact but the militants destroyed a lion statue in the town dating back to the 2nd century. The statue, discovered in 1975, had stood at the gates of the town museum, and had been placed inside a metal box to protect it from damage.
In early July, ISIS released a video showing the killing of some 20 captured government soldiers in Palmyra's amphitheater. They were shot dead by young ISIS members, armed with pistols. Hundreds of people were seen watching the killings. | 
