Because it is the city of Bashar Assad, his hometown, and the most fortified castle, attacking it represents the gravest challenge and courage of all.
It was a surprise to see pictures of the rebels fighting in towns surrounding Qardaha, causing panic amongst Assad regime while boosting the morale of the opposition.
Is targeting Qardaha merely a military propaganda action that aims to raise the spirits of the rebels? Assad’s army has been weakened after the fall of a number of areas that were previously under its control, such as Qusayr and a number of towns in the countryside of Damascus and Deraa?
Or is it part of a strategy of the regime to seize the coast after it lost almost all land border crossings to the rebels last year?
If Qardaha was just a media propaganda, then no doubt it has achieved its goal. It actually made the opposition forget its military and political defeats in the past few months.
Rebels proved they are not in retreat, but in fact they outperformed militias from Iraq, Iran and Hezbollah that joined the ranks of the regime’s army following dramatic retreat at the beginning of this year.
The attack on Qardaha has also boosted the morale of millions of Syrians. The last setback had upset them and they were worried that Assad will try to capitalize on the regime’s victory in the upcoming Geneva International Conference.
The only fault with this propaganda is that its effect is not long lasting, unless the leadership of the revolution realizes a true and actual progress on the most important front of Qardaha.
No doubt that Damascus, Aleppo and Homs are critical cities. Seizing any one of these cities means a real threat to the existence of the regime itself. If any of these cities falls into the hands of the rebels, it may be the center point for an attack to bring down the regime.
Targeting Qardaha, and the adjacent villages served the Syrian cause internally. This may not last because of the overwhelming power of Assad forces there. It may even prove counterproductive as some extremist groups intentionally or unintentionally help the regime. These groups do not pay heed to the ethics of war but they are there for sectarian grudges or personal feuds.
The horrible actions of these groups actually weakened the revolution in these last few months and horrified the world. Even the Syrians themselves were horrified because the majority of them do not want to replace a monstrous regime with a more monstrous one.
Syrian rebels achieved significant victories in the past few weeks, but these did not get the same media attention, like Qardaha.
The rebels recently took control of Khan Al-Assal and a number of important military sites in Deraa. They seized the Meng military airport following months of fighting. They also seized a large quantity of arms, ammunition and rockets in Qalamoun.
The rebels carried out successful operations in Damascus and its countryside as well. All events on the ground say that the regime is still unable to stop the rebels despite the enormous supplies it is getting from its allies. And all we hope for from the political and military leaderships of the revolution is that they overcome their differences in face of a common enemy.
