Syrian rebels were poised to repress their lightning-fast advance after reaching the edge of the central city of Homs on Saturday, with government forces trying to hold back crumbling front lines and save President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule. had been
Since a rebel offensive in Aleppo a week ago, government defenses have weakened across the country as rebels have seized major cities and retrenched areas where the uprising had long been waning.
In addition to capturing Aleppo in the north, Hama in the center and Deir al-Zor in the east, rebels rose up in southern Sweda and Daraa, saying on Friday they had taken control of both cities and videos of rebel celebrations there. Posted.
The Syrian army said it was carrying out airstrikes around Hama and Homs and was reinforcing the front. He also said he was rebuilding around Dera and Sawida without recognizing their capture by the rebels.
Western officials say the pace of events has stunned Arab capitals, raising fears of a fresh wave of regional instability.
Syria’s civil war, which began as an uprising against Assad’s rule in 2011, has drawn in major outside powers, created space for various factions and groups to plan attacks around the world, and forced millions of refugees into neighboring countries. Sent to the states.
Western officials say the Syrian army is in a difficult situation, unable to stem rebel gains and forced to retreat.
Assad has long relied on allies to quell the rebels, with Russian warplanes carrying out aerial bombardments while Iran bolsters the Syrian army and attacks on rebel strongholds with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Coalition forces including Iraqi armed groups were sent.
But Russia has been focused on the war in Ukraine since 2022, and Hezbollah’s leadership has been decimated in its brutal war with Israel this year.
Russia has appealed to its citizens to leave the country on Friday. An Iranian official said Iran had evacuated the diplomats’ families from Syria.
Western officials said Hezbollah sent some “surveillance forces” into Homs on Friday, but any significant deployment would risk Israeli airstrikes. Lebanon said Israel attacked two border crossings between Lebanon and Syria on Friday.
Iranian-backed Iraqi armed groups are on high alert, with thousands of heavily armed fighters poised to deploy to Syria, many of them massed near the border. But two of their commanders said they had not yet been ordered to cross. A government spokesman said on Friday that Iraq does not seek military intervention in Syria.
Iran, Russia and Turkey, the main foreign backers of the rebels, will meet on Saturday to discuss the Syrian crisis, a diplomatic source said on Friday.
Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said that Assad has not made any serious efforts to reconcile with his own people and that the civil war threatens Syria’s territorial integrity.
The Battle for Homs
Rebels said they were “on the walls” of Homs after capturing the last village on its northern outskirts late Friday, a day after capturing nearby Hama after a brief battle outside the city.
Inside Homs, a resident said the situation had felt normal by Friday, but with airstrikes and gunfire clearly audible and pro-Assad armed groups setting up checkpoints, the tensions have escalated. was
“They are telling people to stay in line and not to get excited and not expect Homs to go easily,” the resident said.
Capturing Homs, a key junction between the capital and the Mediterranean, would cut Damascus off from the coastal stronghold of Assad’s minority Alawite sect and from a naval base and air base of its Russian allies.
Rebels outside Homs came under heavy bombardment overnight and the army and its allies were trying to dig in to defend the city, both sides said.
A coalition of rebel factions including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) made a final call for forces loyal to the Assad regime in Homs to withdraw.
Ahead of the rebel advance, thousands of people fled Homs to the coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus, government strongholds, residents and witnesses said.
“Homs is the key, it will be very difficult for Assad to stand, but if Homs falls, the main highway from Damascus to Tartus and the coast will be closed, cutting the capital off from the Alawite mountains,” Jonathan Landis said. . , a Syrian expert at the University of Oklahoma.
“But the Syrian army will not fight. No one wants to die for Assad and his regime,” he added.
Taking Deira and Sweida in the south could allow a joint assault on the capital, the center of Assad’s power, military sources said.
Rebel sources said on Friday that the army had agreed to an orderly withdrawal from Dail, which would give army officials safe passage 100 kilometers (60 miles) north to the capital, Damascus.
Dera, which had a population of more than 100,000 before the civil war broke out 13 years ago, has symbolic significance as the cradle of the insurgency. It is the capital of a province bordering Jordan with a population of about one million.
To the east, a U.S.-backed coalition led by Syrian Kurdish fighters captured Deir al-Zor, a key government stronghold in the vast desert, on Friday, three Syrian sources told Reuters, threatening Assad’s ground communications with allies in Iraq. put