Aug 17 (Reuters) - Here is a snapshot of who controls different regions of Syria more than 17 months into a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, although reporting restrictions, along with the ebb and flow of conflict, make it hard to be precise.
NORTHERN SYRIA
Rebels hold large swathes of territory, especially near the border with Turkey. Fighting is still raging in Syria's largest city, Aleppo. Idlib, previously held by rebels, is now in army hands, but rebels control much of the nearby countryside.
DAMASCUS
The capital is largely under state control after Assad's forces flushed out most of the rebels who pushed into Damascus last month, but the insurgents are encroaching on the city again. Rebels run many of the suburbs and towns immediately to the east of the city.
COASTAL PROVINCES
Syria's coastal provinces are firmly in government control, save for a few pockets of resistance. Most of Tartous province and parts of Latakia province are an enclave of Assad's minority Alawite sect. Support for Assad is strong and some Syrians suspect Assad's forces could retreat here if defeated elsewhere.
EASTERN PROVINCES
Activists calculate more than two-thirds of Deir al-Zor province, bordering Iraq, are out of government control. The same goes for Deir al-Zor city, home to around 600,000. Further north, around Qamishli, control is falling into the hands of Syrian Kurdish groups, some aligned with Turkey's separatist militant Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK).
CENTRAL SYRIA
Homs, the epicentre of the Syrian revolt, is divided between government and rebel control. So is the surrounding countryside. Rastan, Talbisa, Houla and al-Qusayr are towns that are generally rebel-controlled but often come under siege.
In Hama, once a hot spot for opposition street protests, a government clampdown has kept a lid on unrest.
SOUTHERN PROVINCES
Provinces such as Sweida, home to Syria's Druze minority, are under solid state control. Most Syrian Druze have stayed on the sidelines of the revolt, though their presence in opposition ranks is growing.
The city of Deraa, cradle of the uprising, is under tight government control, but rebels hold most of the countryside.