Rebels have advanced into Syria’s third-largest city of Homs, signaling a major advance in the country’s ongoing conflict, a war monitor reported, as the country’s ruler late Saturday night. It is reported to have escaped from the capital.
Government forces abandoned the main city on Saturday after less than a day of fighting. A rebel leader released a video message on Saturday saying the rebels were in the last minute to liberate Homs.
Homs, located at a key junction between Damascus and the Mediterranean coast, is a strategic prize in the years-long war.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebel factions had taken control of several districts after government forces abandoned their last strongholds in the city.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said rebel factions entered the city of Homs and took control of some neighborhoods after security forces and the army withdrew from their last positions.
He also said that hundreds of prisoners escaped from the central prison in Homs during the uprising.
However, the Syrian Ministry of Defense immediately denied these claims. “Reports published by media platforms affiliated with terrorist organizations about the entry of terrorists into the city of Homs are baseless,” it said in a statement, adding that around Homs Government forces are stationed around “fortified defense lines”.
In a parallel development, speculation about the whereabouts of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is intensifying. CNN cites sources claiming that Assad is no longer in Damascus, although officials deny that he has fled the capital.
The absence of Assad’s presidential guard from his usual residence has raised questions about his whereabouts.