MESOP SYRIA NEWS ROUNDUP – Monday, April 21

Old Homs rebels advance for first time since June 2012

Rebels encircled in the 13 neighborhoods of Old Homs have advanced, moving into Jeb al-Jandali neighborhood after detonating a car-bomb east of the pro-government National Defense Force militia stronghold of a-Zahra’a, activist Ahmed Yasseen told Syria Direct Monday from inside one of the encircled neighborhoods.

The rebels’ progress is the first tangible advance since the regime began its stranglehold on Old Homs 679 days ago. “Jabhat a-Nusra executed the advance after the [car] bomb” on Sunday, Yasseen said, adding that “11 combatants from a-Nusra liberated a large part of Jeb al-Jandali on Sunday.” Rebels also advanced in Wadi al-Sayeh, the pro-opposition al-Khalidiyeh Coordination Committee reported. Meanwhile, pro-government newspaper al-Watan announced Sunday that government troops had “advanced from all fronts.” Last week, the Syrian government intensified shelling on the neighborhoods in a final push to recapture what rebels once considered the heart of peaceful protests that began the Syrian conflict in March 2011.