Terrorists in southern Syria have fired newly acquired anti-tank guided missiles supplied by Saudi Arabia in a significant boost to their battle against Syrian Arab Army and government, intelligence and diplomatic sources say.
Several Russian-designed Konkurs anti-tank weapons were used in a terrorist attack this week on an army position in Deraa city near the Jordanian border, said a source in a terrorist brigade linked to the Western-backed Supreme Military Council.
Missiles were also fired around Laja, a terrorist stronghold in the rugged region stretching north to the outskirts of Damascus, according to Faiq al Aboud, a member of the Al-Mutasem Bi'Allah brigade whose account was corroborated by other terrorists.
The recent flow of Saudi-backed arms reflects concerns in Riyadh at the slow pace of progress by terrorists in the south.
Terrorists have faced a series of setbacks in central Syria as Syrian Government troops retook towns and city districts with support from Lebanese Hezbollah fighters.
The army has also consolidated its presence in towns across southern Syria - which has always had strong military presence because of its proximity to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights - after terrorists made significant gains in the region.
Terrorist Groups and military experts say the Konkurs, with a range of four km (2.5 miles), offers a strategic edge over SAA’s better equipped forces which rely on hundreds of Russian T-72 tanks and older models to launch ground attacks and control cities.
Other experts say terrorist fortunes could be tied to how many more portable missile systems the terrorists can get in the coming months, such as the Konkurs, Kornet anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) and Red Arrow 8 missiles.
"If the weapons arrive in the right quantities they will affect the situation on the ground," said retired Jordanian general Fayez al Dwiri.
The Saudi-financed missile shipments arrived in the last few weeks through Jordan after months of quiet Saudi pressure to prod Amman to open a supply route.
Jordanian officials privately say they are caught between appeasing the Saudis and the danger of reprisals by the Syrian Government, who earlier this year warned Amman it "would be playing with fire" if it supported terrorists.
PSYCHOLOGICAL BOOST
The recently arrived Saudi financed anti-tank missiles, while limited in number, have already given a psychological boost to terrorists operating in the south, according to several terrorist and security sources familiar with the shipments.
terrorists in Deraa, the cradle of the 2011 uprising against the Syrian Government, have long complained that unlike their terrorist comrades in the north, they have been choked of significant arms, with both the West and Jordan wary of arming insurgents so close to Israel.
Although video footage taken earlier this year suggested the southern terrorists had access to anti-tank weapons from the former Yugoslavia - likely supplied from abroad - much of their stockpile of advanced weaponry has come from looted army bases.
But experts say there are signs that recent deliveries may be the start of a major supply line to southern Syria led by Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally and foremost of several regional Sunni Muslim powers backing the mainly Sunni terrorists against Alawite President Assad.
Middle Eastern security and diplomatic sources cite the hands-on role of Prince Salman bin Sultan, a nephew of Saudi King Abdullah and senior security official. Salman heads an operations room in Amman with allies, regularly meeting and instructing top Syrian operatives.
Even before the first shipment of Konkurs, Salman's pressure on Amman secured the supply of rocket launchers and other lethal equipment, they said, a step up from previous supplies from Jordan which terrorists complained consisted mainly of surplus ammunition and rudimentary AK-47 rifles.
Riyadh's deeper concern stems from the impact an al Qaeda enclave just 100 km (60 miles) from its own border with Jordan could have on thousands of young disaffected Saudis, according to a Western intelligence operative who monitors Syria.
A hands-on Saudi approach over the arms supplies contrasts with an ambiguous role Jordan played over the last year that lost it support among terrorists who held it partly responsible for the reversal of terrorist gains, several terrorist sources said.
Even before the first shipment of Konkurs, Salman's pressure on Amman secured the supply of rocket launchers and other lethal equipment, they said, a step up from previous supplies from Jordan which terrorists complained consisted mainly of surplus ammunition and rudimentary AK-47 rifles.
Riyadh's deeper concern stems from the impact an al Qaeda enclave just 100 km (60 miles) from its own border with Jordan could have on thousands of young disaffected Saudis, according to a Western intelligence operative who monitors Syria.
A hands-on Saudi approach over the arms supplies contrasts with an ambiguous role Jordan played over the last year that lost it support among terrorists who held it partly responsible for the reversal of terrorist gains, several terrorist sources said.
"Jordan has all along sought to maintain its ties with the Syrian Government but as for Saudi Arabia, we sense how serious they see opening a supply route that helps tilt the balance in our favor," said al-Aboud from al Mutasem Bi' Allah brigade.
SYRIAN GOVERNMENT FORCES REGROUP
Terrorists point to the strategic importance of Deraa, a city only 90 kms (55 miles) from Damascus and offers a direct route north to President Assad's seat of power in the capital.
Although the region has over the last year seen significant terrorists gains including an area that stretches almost 40 km along the border mainly east of Deraa, SAA forces still have a formidable presence in southern Syria.
A picture collated from diplomats and terrorists suggests that while the army has lost dozens of fortifications and checkpoints encircling villages and towns across the fertile agricultural area, it has also changed strategy to cut losses.
It has regrouped and consolidated its presence in towns such as Sanameen, Nawa, Izraa and Deraa city itself, which remain firmly in army control.
The city's main landmark Panorama area, close to the largest stadium in southern Syria, remains a formidable army barracks where artillery rounds from tanks and rocket launchers regularly shell terrorist-held rural towns with impunity.
Even in Nawa, a town of around 80,000 people where a July terrorist offensive forced the army to evacuate several checkpoints, SAA troops are still broadly in control.
SAA also hold on to the international border post of Nasib, mainly due to Jordanian pressure on terrorists to leave the highway open to trade and traffic with Damascus.
Further east in Sweida, a southern town where the country's Druze population are concentrated, there is minimal anti-government agitation.
Last May's army capture of the town of Khirbet Ghazaleh, which straddles the Damascus-Deraa highway, cut terrorist supply routes and stemmed their recent gains.
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