Is this why the Usual Suspects are suddenly desperate to remove Assad?

A victory for government forces in Douma would effectively mark a death blow to the armed rebellion against Assad ... Eastern Ghouta was one of the first areas near Damascus to revolt in 2011. If it falls under full government control, only a handful of areas will remain under rebel control, none of them as strategically important.

The above is from the April 8 Washington Post report Dozens killed in apparent chemical weapons attack on civilians in Syria, rescue workers say. 

So. The battle between the 'rebels' in Douma and Syrian government forces isn't any old battle. It's the end game for the government. That could explain the mounting hysteria among anti-Assad regimes. The ruckus heated up about two months ago, which was when the Syrian military began its campaign in eastern Ghouta which includes Douma City.

Will Douma fall under "full government control?" Not if the Usual Suspects can help it. They've invested too much since 2011 on getting control of Syria to slink away quietly. From a Sputnik report today, there are "remaining parts of the enclave still held by armed rebels." Jaysh al-Islam seems to be the stick in the mud. 

Which regime among the Usual Suspects is backing JAL or providing the most backing? I don't know but I find Thierry Meyssan's closing words in his March 16 crash course on the three most powerful rebel groups in E. Ghouta to be interesting in regard to the question:

Commonalities of these three groups

These three groups have no ideological difference. All claim to be the thought of the Muslim Brotherhood [4]. According to them, daily life is divided between what is lawful from the point of view of their Islam and what is not.

There are, however, differences between the three groups about how they can treat people who do not share their point of view. Be that as it may, no one lives under their rule without being a Sunni.

Like all the fighters of the "Islamic revolution", their men often change their group and these groups fight each other and join together frequently. It is absurd to draw substantive conclusions. At most, we can see territorial quarrels between their leaders and opportunities for their soldiers.

All of these groups and countless others have well-designed flags and logos as well as quality videos. All of this communication material is manufactured by the United Kingdom. In 2007, it had a war propaganda unit, the Research Information and Communications Unit (RICU) headed by MI6 (Secret Service) officer Jonathan Allen.

Starting from the chemical weapons case in the summer of 2013, the RICU financed an external company to assist the communication of combatants in Syria (and subsequently those of Yemen). It was initially Regester Larkin, then Innovative Communications & Strategies (InCoStrat). Both companies are headed by an MI6 officer, Colonel Paul Tilley.

Jonathan Allen, whose rank we do not know, has become number two in the UK permanent representation at the United Nations. He is currently leading the Security Council against Russia and Syria.

British secret service officer and charge d’affaires of His Majesty, Jonathan Allen, giving a press conference at the UN with his privileged ally, the French ambassador, François Delattre.

As to how Jaysh al-Islam "can treat people who do not share their point of view, " Thierry explains:

Jeïch el-Islam [Jaysh al-Islam], that is, the Army of Islam, is the only one of these groups to have a local presence. It was created in September 2013 by the family Allouche, from another group, the Brigade of Islam, in the mode of a gang imposing its law on merchants of the Ghouta, not hesitating to publicly execute those who challenged their power.

The group was initially commanded by Zahran Allouche, son of the preacher Abdallah Allouche, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood refugee in Saudi Arabia. From 2009 to 2011, he was imprisoned for belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood. He was released in a general amnesty decreed by President al-Assad at the request of third countries.

For several years, Zahran Allouche terrorized the inhabitants of Damascus declaring that he was going to "clean" the city. He announced each Friday [1] the attacks he was going to commit against the capital. In 2013, he abducted Alawite families [2] in Aadra. He used some as human shields and walked a hundred in cages, before executing the men so that we’d know what fate he reserved for "infidels". [Thierry lives in Damascus] After his death a businessman, Sheikh Isaam Buwaydani called "Abu Hamam", succeeded him.

His cousin is Mohammed Allouche, made famous by his repression of manners. He created the Unified Judicial Council, which imposed the Saudi version of Sharia law on all Ghouta residents. He notably organized executions of homosexuals, thrown from the roof of buildings. He represents the group at the UN negotiations in Geneva.

The Allouche family is now comfortably settled in London.

[...]

If the British regime is JAL's biggest foreign backer and the biggest backer of the other two main rebel groups in E. Ghouta I doubt they'd be spending their own money on the enterprise.

Following the line of speculation, the British would be carrying water for Qatar or Saudi Arabia or both, although the connection of the three groups with the Muslim Brotherhood would tend to favor Qatar -- which since their tiff with Al Saud has taken to blaming the United States for their long support for the Brothers and they just went along to help the Americans.

Now just see how Americans always get left holding the bag.  

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