The well known Al-Qaeda strategy was for armed factions to enter towns and try to hold them, while imposing harsh restrictions on residents or forcing them out, torturing and killing many to drive the message through. It is a strategy used in many other areas, including Iraq, and it has never worked, because it always brings about a very harsh response against the terrorists from the authorities in power. The Syrian government cannot be defeated militarily, and such tactics only bring about destruction and mutual fighting. Much like the US in Iraq, they could not be defeated by insurgents, and the presence of insurgents in towns was a cause of destruction and misery for the residents.

The Daily Telegraph, which is virtually a semi-official UK foreign office mouthpiece, admits for the first time that the terrorists do not have the support of the civilians in the districts they overrun:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9181867/Syrias-rebels-abandon-territory-in-major-cities-in-favour-of-new-guerilla-war.html

The civilians beg the armed factions to leave their towns and villages, because the civilians do not want their houses and lives to be the frontline and casaulity for a war they do not want. The armed factions gather their men and go into other villages and towns to the horror of the residents, whose lives are upturned. Naturally, most civilians flee and the terrorists occupy their houses and shoot out of them, making them targets for return fire from the army. In this way, the armed factions show reckless disregard for the properties and lives of the people, and in fact if the civilians are killed they love it because they can video them dead and use it as propaganda.

See http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=21e_1333235969 Residents of Homs Greet Syrian Army With Joy After Driving Out Terrorist Scum