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SYRIAN rebels including al-Qaida affiliate the al-Nusra Front drove government forces from the town of Busra Sham yesterday.
The hilltop town near the Jordanian border is considered key to control of the region between Syria’s capital Damascus and the border with Jordan. It has a mixed Shi’ite and Sunni population and is a Unesco world heritage site due to its wealth of Roman, Byzantine and medieval Islamic architecture, including a second-century amphitheatre.
About 10,000 rebels from a number of organisations attacked in force on Saturday and government troops finally retreated at dawn yesterday.
Opposition activist Ahmad Masalma claimed the town had been “completely liberated” — but there were fears for its Shi’ite inhabitants, frequent victims of ethnic cleansing by al-Qaida, and for its historic buildings.
The Nusra Front has benefited from the US policy of bombing Islamic State (Isis) positions while continuing to fund and arm rebels seeking to overthrow Bashar al-Assad to make significant gains in Syria this year.
