Pro-government militias like his have been left to guard such areas while better trained and equipped army units fight more crucial battles, sometimes alongside the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiite militias, whose fighters have long been gathered around Sayeda Zeinab, home to a revered Shiite shrine southeast of Damascus.

Part of the failure of Syrian forces to capitalize fully on their gains, according to government fighters and supporters, stems from conflicting strategies within the government. Some officials are trying to moderate the fighting and seek local cease-fires, especially after the threat of an American strike and the government’s effort to portray itself as seeking peace on the international stage. Others are advocating a more aggressive strategy.

And while the government has sought to project itself as in control of Syria, the crisis has only deepened: The number of refugees has increased more than fourfold. The death toll has doubled, Shiite militiamen have flooded the country to aid the government, Kurds have declared an autonomous zone in the northeast, and Sunni jihadist groups have wrested some areas from rival rebels in attempts to establish religious rule.

Even if government advances stick, no quick military resolution is in sight, experts said. When the government aided by Hezbollah took the city of Qusayr, near the Lebanese border, in May, supporters said it would soon go on to sweep rebels from pockets in and around Homs and Aleppo to the north. But despite some advances around those cities, the government has yet to repeat a wholesale takeover of a rebel population center, nor has it been able even to normalize the small city of Qusayr, which remains a military zone bereft of residents and patrolled by the government and its Hezbollah allies.