AMMAN/BEIRUT: Syrian rebels battled government forces for control of the key city of Homs on Saturday and advanced toward the capital Damascus as fronts collapsed across the country, putting President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule in the balance. .
Since a rebel assault on Aleppo a week ago, government defenses have increasingly crumbled as insurgents have seized major cities and established themselves in places where the rebellion has long been waning. was
The twin threats to Homs and the capital, Damascus, now pose an existential threat to Assad’s decades-long rule in Syria and the continued influence there of Iran, its main regional backer.
A Homs resident and army and rebel sources said the rebels had breached government defenses from the north and east of the city. A rebel commander said they had taken control of a military camp and villages outside the city.
The Syrian army, which is reinforcing Homs and targeting rebels with heavy airstrikes, did not immediately comment on the reports.
Rebels have captured almost the entire southwest within 24 hours, and have advanced to within 30 kilometers (20 miles) of Damascus as government forces retreat.
Demonstrators in a suburb of Damascus tore down and smashed a statue of Assad’s father, signaling the possibility of an uprising in the capital. In other suburbs, soldiers changed into civilian clothes and left their posts, residents said.
Syria’s official news agency said that Assad is still in Damascus.
The pace of events has stunned Arab capitals and raised fears of a new wave of regional instability.
Syria’s civil war, which began in 2011 as a rebellion against the rule of Bashar al-Assad, has drawn in major outside powers, created space for jihadist militants to plan attacks around the world and displaced millions of refugees. sent to neighboring states.
Assad has long relied on allies to quell the rebels with bombardments from Russian warplanes, while Iran has bolstered the Syrian army and attacked rebel strongholds, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraqi militias. Allied forces were sent.
US President-elect Donald Trump said the US should not get involved in the conflict and should “let it play out”.
Russia, Iran, Turkey
He said the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey, the main backer of the rebels, met on Saturday and agreed on the importance of Syria’s territorial integrity and the resumption of the political process.
But there was no indication that they had agreed on any concrete steps, with the situation inside Syria changing by the hour.
Russia has a naval base and airbase in Syria that have been important not only to support Assad but also to its ability to project influence in the Mediterranean and Africa.
Moscow has been supporting government forces with heavy airstrikes, but it was unclear whether it could easily scale up the campaign.
Iran has said it would consider sending troops to Syria, but any immediate additional aid would depend on Hezbollah and Iraqi militias.
Western officials said the Lebanese group sent some “surveillance forces” into Homs on Friday, but any significant deployment would risk Israeli airstrikes.
Iranian-backed Iraqi militias are on high alert, preparing to deploy thousands of heavily armed fighters into Syria, many of them massed near the border. A government spokesman said on Friday that Iraq does not seek military intervention in Syria.
Britain warned Assad that the use of chemical weapons was a red line and that “appropriate action” would be taken against him.
The Battle for Homs
A resident of Homs said he saw rebels advancing from a Syrian air force base in the north of the city, which was considered a major defensive area. The resident later said that fighting could be heard on the outskirts of the city.
An opposition figure in contact with the rebel command and a Syrian army source also said the rebels were inside the city.
Capturing Homs, a key junction between the capital and the Mediterranean Sea, would cut off Damascus from the coastal stronghold of Assad’s minority Alawite sect and Russia’s air and naval base.
In the south, a rapid collapse of government control could allow a concerted assault on the capital, Assad’s center of power.
A Syrian army officer said the Syrian army retreated to Sassa, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Damascus, to regroup.
Jamana, where protesters toppled a statue of Hafez al-Assad, father of the current president, is on the southern outskirts of the city. Residents said troops were leaving former rebel strongholds in Daraya and Meze, near a major air base.
The main rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham said it had a duty to protect government, international and UN offices in Syria.
In a sign of the collapse of government forces in the east, about 2,000 Syrian soldiers crossed the border into Iraq to seek refuge, the mayor of the Iraqi border town of Al-Qaim said.
Syrian Kurdish fighters captured eastern Deir al-Zour on Friday, threatening Assad’s land links with allies in Iraq.