Syrian rebel forces advance to Homs, strategic victory over Assad

BEIRUT/AMMAN/DUBAI: Syrian rebel forces announced on Friday that their lightning advance had reached the central city of Homs – a development that would eventually lead the rebels to capture another strategically important city. will go, which will likely weaken President Bashar al-Assad’s grip on power. Reuters Reported

“Our forces have liberated the last village on the outskirts of Homs city and are now on its walls,” the Syrian faction leading the massive offensive said on Telegram.

The group, a former al-Qaeda affiliate now known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), made the final call for the withdrawal of forces loyal to the Assad regime in Homs.

Rebel sources also said early Saturday that they had captured the southern city of Daraa near Jordan, after a deal was struck to give army officials safe passage to the capital Damascus for an orderly withdrawal of troops. is

Reuters The rebels’ claims could not be independently verified.

If the rebels capture Homs, they will cut off Damascus from the coast, a stronghold of Assad’s minority Alawite sect and home to a naval base and an air base for his Russian allies.

A Syrian military source said any rebel push north of Homs would be met by Iran-backed Hezbollah forces, which are there to bolster government defenses.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said thousands of people began fleeing Homs on Thursday night for the regime strongholds of Latakia and the Mediterranean coastal areas of Tartus.

A coastal resident said thousands of people from Homs have started arriving there, fearing a rapid advance by the rebels.

Syrian state media reported that the army is carrying out an operation in the countryside of Homs with the help of the Syrian and Russian air forces, artillery, missiles and armored vehicles. Citing a military source, he said dozens of insurgents were killed.

In another blow to Assad, a US-backed coalition led by Syrian Kurdish fighters captured Deir Ezzor on Friday, a key government stronghold in the country’s vast desert east, three Syrian sources said. is Reuters.

It was the third major city to fall from Assad’s control in a week, after Aleppo and Hama in the northwest and center.

Adding to the pressure, two Syrian military sources said the coalition known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) crossed the Albu Kamal border crossing with Iraq on Friday.

In southern Daraa province, Syrian local fighters and former rebels seized one of the military bases known as Liwa 52 near the town of Harak as fighting spread to the Jordanian border, two rebel sources said. Reuters on Friday.

Sources added that they also seized parts of the Nasib border crossing with Jordan where dozens of trailers and passenger cars were stuck.

At least 200 rebels were killed in Russian-Syrian airstrikes targeting rebel headquarters in the countryside of Hama, Idlib and Aleppo on Friday, Syrian state TV reported, citing the Russian Coordination Center in Syria. Done.