Please note the road network (yellow lines are highways, red lines are main roads, and faint pink lines are secondary roads):
I've expanded the map to make it clear. Al Qusayr does not lie on the main highway between Damascus and points north or the coastal region. Rebels already in Homs (Hims) haven't cut the line of communication even with rebels controlling Qusayr. Controlling Qusayr does not open the line of communication. Period.
What the capture of Qusayr does is make it more difficult for rebels to resupply Homs from Lebanon through Qusayr. But there is no reason for the loss of Qusayr to cut off that supply route. It is going to be more difficult, it is true. But it will not be impossible to continue supplying rebels in the Homs area.
Heck, give the rebels time and they can reinfiltrate Qusayr.
Qusayr was an Assad victory. It was not a turning point in the war.
UPDATE: Even Charles Krauthammer is in need of an atlas:
Last Wednesday, Qusair fell to the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. Qusair is a strategic town that connects Damascus with Assad’s Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean, with its ports and Russian naval base. It’s a major strategic shift. Assad’s forces can now advance on rebel-dominated areas in central and northern Syria, including Aleppo.
Once more with feeling, Qusayr is not a link between Damascus and the Alawite heartland. And no, the capture of Qusayr does not make rebel areas newly vulnerable to attack. Assad was free to advance on those named areas at any time in the last couple years--and he has.
Assad won a victory a Qusayr. For now. And the rebels should be able to recover from the loss.
I couldn't even bear to read the rest of the article after that lead off paragraph. And I respect the man ...
