Getty ImagesThe leader of the Islamist group leading the insurgency in Syria says his forces have taken full control of the country’s third-largest city, Homs.
Abu Muhammad al-Jolani called it a “historic victory” and urged his followers not to harm those who surrendered. The BBC has yet to confirm these claims.
The Syrian Defense Ministry said the reports were false and that the situation in Homs was “stable and safe”.
Meanwhile, rebel forces are reported to be closing in on Damascus, as the Syrian army says it is increasing the deployment of its forces around the capital.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based war monitor, anti-Assad fighters entered the city of Homs and “took control of several neighborhoods”.
Rebel commander Hassan Abdul Ghani declared the “total liberation” of Homs and wrote on X that more than 3,500 prisoners had been released from prison.
The city’s fall to rebel forces would be another major blow to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as it would isolate Damascus and cut the city off from the coastal heartland of his family’s minority Alawite sect.
It would also be a symbolic victory, as Homs served as an opposition stronghold in the early days of the civil war that began in 2011.
“Efforts are ongoing to liberate the entire Damascus countryside, and our eyes are on the capital Damascus,” Ghani said.
An unnamed US official told the BBC’s US partner, CBS News, that the city appeared to be “collapsing into a rebel-held suburb”.
Video footage posted on social media showed protesters chanting and cheering as they toppled a statue of President Assad’s late father, Hafez al-Assad, in the southern suburb of Germana.
Residents of Damascus spoken to by the BBC. Described the uncertainty there.
“We are scared because we really don’t know what is going to happen,” said journalist Zaina Shehla. “Nobody wants to see fighting in Damascus.”
Rum Turkmani, director of the Syrian conflict research program at the London School of Economics, said his sister was still in the city and reported that supplies were running low and ATMs were running out of cash.
gave The president’s whereabouts are a matter of speculation.With tips he can escape from the country. His office has denied all such reports, saying Assad is still at work in Damascus – but there is no sign of him.
Reports that rebels have taken control of Homs come just over a week after they launched Operation Lightning, the biggest offensive against the Syrian government in years, which has ravaged the country. has exposed the weakness of the army.
The government has also lost control of the northern cities of Hama and Aleppo, and armed groups in the south say they have taken control of Deira and Sweida, near the Jordanian border.
According to SOHR, more than 800 people are estimated to have been killed in the fighting.
According to the United Nations, at least 370,000 people have been displaced so far – including many, including Alevis, fleeing the insurgency.
The UN said the fighting was “exacerbating an already dire situation for civilians in the north of the country”.
UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told the BBC on Saturday that he believed a negotiated way out of Syria’s escalating crisis was still possible, but warned that in Syria it would be a Again could be very wrong.
Pedersen said various countries were in contact with the rebels and stressed the need to avoid chaos and bloodshed.
He said this after attending a meeting in Qatar with representatives of five Arab countries as well as three major foreign powers involved in Syria, Iran, Turkey and Russia.
In a joint statement, the group said the current crisis poses a threat to regional and international security.