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Source: http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/talks-restart-but-thats-not-why-civil-war-might-end#full
Iran Is Reaching Its Limits in Syria
(National-UAE) Alan Philps - The Syrian rebels appear better armed and more united, while the regime forces are suffering the attrition of four years of war, with repeated call-ups of young men testing the loyalty of families in regime-held areas. The foreign militias mobilized by Iran in support of the Syrian regime have been depleted by Iraqi Shia volunteers leaving to fight against Islamic State at home. The Iranians make no secret how important their alliance with Syria is. By providing a supply route to Hizbullah in Lebanon and bringing their forces face-to-face with Israeli troops on the Golan Heights, it elevates Iran from a peripheral power in the region to a central actor. More foreign fighters cannot compensate for the regime's inability to mobilize its own defense. The 7,000-8,000 foreign fighters that Iran has mobilized have saved the Syrian regime, but even double that number would not turn the tide to reconquer the lost part of the country.