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- Some of the injured soldiers are currently receiving medical attention.
- Army in Damascus countryside: Defense Ministry
- “Damascus is waiting for you,” the HTS member says as the situation escalates.
Al-Qaim’s border town of Turki al-Muhlavi said that about 2,000 Syrian soldiers have crossed the border and taken refuge in Iraq. Reuters On Saturday
He added that some of the soldiers were injured and are currently receiving medical attention.
In a lightning-fast advance in Syria, rebels said they were nearing Damascus on Saturday, although Bashar al-Assad’s government denied that troops had withdrawn from areas around the capital.
Rebel commander Hassan Abdul Ghani said that our forces have begun the final phase of encircling the capital.
The leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) told fighters to get ready to take over the seat of Assad’s government, just over a week into a new uprising in the long-dormant conflict.
“Damascus is waiting for you,” HTS’s Ahmad al-Shara said in a statement on Telegram, using his real name instead of Abu Muhammad al-Jolani.
The Syrian Ministry of Defense said that military forces are present in all areas of the Damascus countryside.
“There is no truth in the news claiming our armed forces. […] Positions near Damascus have been withdrawn.
In a suburb of Damascus on Saturday, witnesses said protesters toppled a statue of late President Hafez al-Assad, who handed over Syria’s rule to his son.
Similar scenes were seen in the southern city of Daraa in photos shared by local media and footage online. AFP From Hama, north of the capital.
In Hama, one AFP The photographer saw residents set fire to a large poster of President Assad in front of City Hall.
The Syrian presidency has denied reports that Assad has left Damascus, saying he is “pursuing his work and national and constitutional duties in the capital”.
The HTS leader said in one CNN “The goal of the revolution is to overthrow this government,” the interview published on Friday said.
Fear of chaos
While government forces are retreating even faster than the offensive muster, a war monitor and Abdel Ghani said the rebels are within 20 kilometers (12 miles) of Damascus.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces had ceded more key ground, losing control of southern Daraa province, the cradle of the 2011 uprising.
The army said it was “redeploying and redeploying” to Daraa and another southern province of Sawida.
The Britain-based Observatory said troops were also evacuating posts in Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights where Israel says it is expanding its military presence.
Jordan has urged its citizens to leave neighboring Syria “as soon as possible”, as have Assad’s allies Russia and the US, which both keep troops in Syria.
After HTS-led rebels captured Aleppo and Hama in their offensive since November 27, Daraa was seized by local armed groups, the Observatory said.
said a local warrior in Sweda city AFP that after the government forces “withdrawn from their positions and headquarters, we are now securing and securing key installations”.
In the central Homs region, a key gateway to Damascus, the Observatory said government forces had brought in “major reinforcements” and had halted rebel advances.
By Friday, the government was also withdrawing troops from Deir Ezzor in the east, where Kurdish-led forces said they had moved in.
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