Thousands of people are being displaced from the Syrian city of Homs due to the further advance of the rebels.

Tens of thousands of people are fleeing Syria’s third-largest city, Homs, amid reports that rebels are moving in just over a week after launching a crackdown.

The rebels captured Hama in the north on Thursday.A second major blow for President Bashar al-Assad, who lost control of Aleppo last week.

“Your time has come,” Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, the leader of the Islamic militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), told Homs residents.

Rebel forces launched their biggest offensive against the Syrian government in years last week.

They are advancing south, and Homs will be the next stop on the road to the capital, Damascus.

Their offensive is the fastest advance on the battlefield by any side since Syria’s civil war began 13 years ago, exposing the weakness of the country’s military.

Frightened members of President Assad’s minority Alawite community flee Homs, video footage shows roads jammed with vehicles.

The rebels’ Joint Operations Center says its fighters have passed through two towns on their way to Homs – Rastan and Talbisa – and are now within 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) of the city.

The BBC has not been able to confirm these movements, but the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which monitors the war, is also reporting them.

Earlier, SOHR said Russian warplanes had bombed a bridge in Rastan to try to slow the rebel advance.

After the Syrian army lost control of Hama after days of fighting, it is unclear whether it will be able to defend Homs.

Homs is a strategic city that connects Damascus to the Alawite stronghold on the Mediterranean coast, Assad’s political stronghold and key to his grip on power.

Assad has vowed to “crush” the rebels and accused Western powers of trying to remap the region.

But analysts say low pay and corruption in the ranks have weakened the morale of Assad’s forces. According to the state news agency SANA, Assad recently announced a 50 percent increase in salaries.

Russia and Iran, the regime’s most important allies, have pledged continued support for Assad, but have not provided the kind of military support that has so far propped up his regime.

The Kremlin is engaged in its own war in Ukraine, and Iran has been weakened by Israel’s punishing campaign against its most powerful allied militia, Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Hezbollah fighters were playing a key role in capturing government areas in Syria.

Russian and Iranian officials are expected to meet their Turkish counterparts later in the week to discuss a response to the uprising in Syria’s civil war.

Turkey supports some of the rebel groups that took part in the attack, which analysts say almost certainly could not have happened without Ankara’s knowledge and approval.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been pressing Assad for months to reach a political solution with the opposition.

Erdogan has now repeated that demand and said Turkey is working to pave the way for such an outcome.

For his part, the HTS leader, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, has been making public comments to soften his image and reassure both Syrian and foreign leaders.

He has emphasized his separation from Islamic State and al-Qaida years ago, portraying himself as a nationalist who opposes attacks outside Syria, and has promised to protect minority communities.

More than 5 million people have been killed since the civil war began in 2011 after the government of Bashar al-Assad violently cracked down on peaceful pro-democracy protests.

Since the attack began nine days ago, SOHR says more than 820 people have been killed across the country, including 111 civilians.

Earlier, HTS fighters and their allies seized Hama and released prisoners from its main prison amid heavy fighting, while the army said it had redeployed troops outside the city. is given

Hama is home to 1 million people and is 110 kilometers (70 miles) south of Aleppo, which the rebels captured last week.

Meanwhile the UN has said the fighting is “exacerbating an already dire situation for civilians in the north of the county”.

An estimated 280,000 people have been displaced, mostly women and children, and some civilians are trapped in frontline areas unable to reach safe havens.

In Aleppo, a city of two million people, some public services and critical facilities – including hospitals, bakeries, power stations, water, internet and telecommunications – are cut off or disabled due to lack of supplies and personnel.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged “all those with influence to do their part” to end the civil war.