The Syrian regime has clawed back control of much of the country over the past few years: the city of Homs, the great prize of Aleppo, the countryside around Damascus and most recently the birthplace of the uprising: Daraa.
Syrian government forces say they have retaken a town that was the epicenter of the civil war that engulfed the country and the region for more than seven years.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said the United States has "lost its cards" in Syria, calling on America to leave the country in an interview with Russia Today.
The United States and Russia blamed each other Saturday for heightened international tensions after US, UK and French strikes against targets in Syria over the alleged use of chemical weapons.
Senior US officials expressed confidence Saturday that both chlorine and sarin gas were used in Syria's alleged chemical weapons attack on the Damascus enclave of Douma last week -- a conclusion that went a step further than Vice President Mike Pence did in his remarks earlier Saturday.
After nearly a week of tension that sometimes verged on the surreal, the US and its allies finally carried out strikes against regime targets in Syria on Friday night. The strikes, more limited than once seemed likely, were designed to deter the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons once and for all.
BRITISH PRIME MINISTER THERESA MAY: This evening I have authorized British armed forces to conduct co-ordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian Regime's chemical weapons capability and deter their use.
President Donald Trump continued to weigh his options Thursday for responding to a chemical gas attack in Syria as his aides warned a miscalculated response could spark a dramatic escalation between the United States, Russia and Iran.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis has warned the Syrian regime against the use of chemical weapons, telling reporters Friday "you have all seen how we reacted to that, so they'd be ill advised to go back to violating the chemical convention."
The United States must remain both diplomatically and militarily engaged in Syria to protect its own national security interests, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday.
