The 2nd battle of Kobani has begun while the Syrian army faces yet another offensive. Reuters.

Wounded civilians are offloaded at the Turkey/Syria border. Reuters

The Syrian regime is under extreme pressure as ISIS has started a 2nd battle at Kobani, as well as the government held city of Hasaka, while other rebel groups try to take the city of Deraa. Reuters. The northern offensive against Kobani and Hasaka are seen as a response to the Kurdish offensive that is threatening Raqqa, the capital of the Islamic State. Kobani was the scene of a bloody battle that saw the Kurds stand against a withering assault by ISIS, which was beaten back thanks to Kurdish reinforcements and U.S. airstrikes. ISIS fighters, deceptively flying the flag of the Free Syrian Army, sent carbombs and gunmen into Kobani in a raid that killed as many as 15 people as well as 20 more killed in a nearby village. Hasaka, which is held by the Kurds and regime forces is another provincial capital, and its loss would be devastating to the regime as it is one of their last outposts in the northeast of the country. ISIS has taken the al-Nashwa district to the south of the city and have begun executions. 

In the South, other rebels are threatening the city of Deraa, yet another provincial capital. If it falls it will join Raqqa and Idlib as the third provincial capital to fall. The rebels in the south, known as the Southern Front are more secular and less Islamist then the al-Nusra led Army of Conquest in the north, though al-Nusra has a presence in the south as well. Both sides of the battle reported that the Southern Front have started to shell the city proper in preparation for an attack. 

My Comment:

It's fairly easy to see what ISIS is doing in Kobani and Hasaka. We have seen this before in Iraq. When Iraqi forces moved in and captured Tikrit, ISIS moved most of their forces out of the area, leaving only token forces and a huge amount of booby traps for the Iraqi troops. When they finally captured the city, ISIS had moved on to other targets. Major attacks at Ramadi and Baji followed. 

The same thing is happening now. The Kurds had a very successful attack to the north of Raqqa. Obviously, ISIS wanted to hold onto their capital so they needed to cause a distraction. They weren't having all that much success on the defensive, so they attacked where their enemy was weak. They hit Kobani and increased their attacks on Hasaka. Both targets are critical for the Kurds, and they will have to defend them. With the battles distracting the Kurds, their offensive aimed at Raqqa may be over. The Kurds have little interest in capturing the city, but have a huge incentive to protect their own land. 

As for the tactics, we have seen this before. ISIS has become experts on raids with a leading attack of suicide car bombers, followed by attacks by gunmen. These tactics are nothing new, but it's disturbing that ISIS was able to pull them off in Kobani. After all the city has been through a lot. I figured after the Kurds had expelled ISIS from the city it would have been more fortified then it seems to be. Perhaps though, the tactics are just that effective. How do you really defend against car bomb attacks? 

This is make or break time for the Syrian Regime. If they fail in either Hasaka or Deraa, they are going to be in serious trouble. Hasaka is about their only outpost in eastern Syria, along with the besieged city of Dier Ez-Zor, which is in danger of falling itself. Should both of these cities fall, Syria will be reduced to even more of a rump state then they are currently. Right now they have a tenuous claim to the east, but it's hanging by a thread. 

Should Hasaka fall it will again split the Kurdish forces in the North as well. The Kurds in Kobani had long been separated from the rest of the Kurdish forces because ISIS had control of Tell Abyad, a city on the Turkish border between Kobani and Hasaka. ISIS was pushed back, but if they take Hasaka, the forces shall be split again. And if Kobani falls this time then the Kurds may be in serious trouble. 

As for the south, Deraa is in a precarious spot. It's a rather large salient surrounded by three sides by hostile forces. Salients are always hard to defend and by their very nature they are prone to being cut off. The situation seems very hard to defend and the Syrian forces in the area are in no position to attack. Though if it were to fall it would come under the control of the last rebels in Syria that even claim to be secular. 

The Syrian regime is under incredible pressure here and I think the end of the war is coming. At the very least it will enter into a new stage where the regime has abandoned the east and the south. They will have to focus on keeping Damascus and the various coastal cities. When this happens, the regime may get a boost from the fact that they won't have as many supply problems that are inherent when you have isolated cities like Hasaka and Dier Ez-Zor and that their front lines will get smaller. But that's the only advantage they are likely to get at this point in the war.