Dear Readers,Welcome to the weekly Syria Deeply newsletter. We’ve rounded up the most important stories and developments about Syria and the Syrians in order to bring you valuable news and analysis. But first, here is a brief overview of what happened this week:In Syria this week, the government continued to pound rebel-held areas as world powers met in Vienna to discuss increasing aid deliveries to besieged areas in the hopes of reviving the now defunct cease-fire and eventually coaxing warring parties back to the negotiating table.In Homs on Wednesday, a barrage of airstrikes on the rebel-held town of Rastan killed an extended family of 12, including 10 children, who had been hiding in a shelter underground.Government forces, with the help of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, on Thursday successfully captured the strategic rebel stronghold of Deir al-Asafir in Eastern Ghouta. Government troops have made strategic advances in the area on the northeastern outskirts of the capital in recent weeks, exploiting weeks of infighting between the area’s two rival Islamist factions – Jaish al-Islam and Failaq al-Rahman – to make gains.Southwest of Damascus, the Syrian army and its allies pressed forward on an assault to shore up control of the main highway running from Damascus to southwestern Syria. Government warplanes carried out dozens of air raids on the town of Khan al-Shih, where rebel groups straddle the strategic highway.As fighting raged across much of the country and ISIS took part in a separate series of battles against Kurdish forces and the U.S.-led air campaign, world powers gathered in Vienna in efforts to salvage the now-collapsed truce and bring warring parties back to the negotiating table.Although Tuesday’s meeting in Vienna failed to secure its intended goal of setting a date for a new round of peace talks, it did produce a joint statement pushing the U.N. World Food Program to airdrop much-needed humanitarian aid in besieged areas across the country, starting June 1, if forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad continue to block efforts to reach these areas.Shortly after the ultimatum, a 29-truck convoy entered the besieged Damascus suburb of Harasta on Wednesday, bringing the first delivery of aid to the area since government forces closed it off from the rest of the capital nearly four years ago.
Weekly Highlights:
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