Syria's President, Bashar Al-Assad, has given a surprisingly frank view on the state of the war in his country, telling the nation in a televised speech that the army is suffering from a severe manpower shortage, and had been forced to give up on defending some areas in order to hold on to more important ones.
"Sometimes, in some circumstances, we are forced to give up areas to move those forces to the areas that we want to hold onto," Assad said in a televised speech. "We must define the important regions that the armed forces hold onto so it doesn't allow the collapse of the rest of the areas."
The Syrian army is currently embroiled in battles with a number of insurgent groups, such as Isis, the al-Qaeda backed Nusra Front, the Southern Front and Kurdish militia groups.
Currently, the government only controls around a quarter of the country, although this area is home to the majority of the population.
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Despite the bleak outlook, Assad gave a defiant message.
"Everything is available (for the army), but there is a shortfall in human capacity," he said. "Despite that, I am not presenting a dark picture."
He has also announced an amnesty for men who have dodged signing up for military service, who may have been reluctant to come forward and fight for fear of punishment.
Thousands queue to receive aid from the United Nation Relief and Works Agency at the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, Syria
Now, men who have avoided service will be able to join the army freely, a measure he hopes will boost the number of recruits.
Assad's admission appears to have trigged pledges of supports from his main allies, Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which is fighting alongside the Syrian army.
He publicly credited Hezbollah for its "important" role, and said that Iran's participation was limited to the supply of military experts.
