The capture of areas in the Daraa province and the Jordan border crossing south of it serve as an important psychological victory for Syrian President Bashar Assad and the Russians. It’s important because it is a serious blow to the morale of the Sunni rebels, who are withdrawing on almost all fronts anyway, and Daraa is a symbol for them. This is where the rebellion started seven years ago, this is where they stood their ground despite repeated assaults by the regime’s army, Iranian militias and Hezbollah. That is why the fall of the province will chip away at the rebels’ motivation to keep fighting.

There are only two provinces left in Syria under rebel control—the Idlib province in the north, which is holding strong mostly thanks to the Turkish forces nearby that support it, and the area east of the Euphrates River that the Syrian Kurds control with heavy American assistance.

The Daraa province lasted a long time thanks to the supply and reinforcements it received from Arab nations—among them Saudi Arabia and the Gulf nations—through Jordan. Jordan also allowed the Americans and the British to support the Syrian rebels with advisors and aid from its territory. Now, all of that is over.

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