Syrian rebels are waging a lightning-fast onslaught that could further destabilize a region already rocked by conflict, claiming to have taken control of a fifth city and encroaching on the capital, Damascus.
The largest Syrian province, Homs, which borders Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon, was reportedly taken by the terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on Saturday.
The claim has not been independently confirmed by NBC News.
The road between Damascus and the Syrian coast would be shut off if the rebel group took control of the Syrian-Lebanese border, severely undermining President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
Lt. Col. Hassan Abdul-Ghani, the senior leader of HTS, asserted that the organization had taken control of the cities of Homs, Sweida, Quneitra, and Daraa in less than a day.
In a WhatsApp post, Abdul-Ghani stated, “Our operations are still liberating the entire countryside of Damascus, and our eyes are focused on the capital, Damascus.”
Independent journalists find it extremely challenging to work in Syria, and NBC News was unable to confirm the rebels’ assertions.
The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor headquartered in the United Kingdom, Rami Abdurrahman, stated on Saturday that rebels had infiltrated areas of the city and that Syrian military and representatives of several security agencies had left Homs, according to the Associated Press.
This week, thousands of residents evacuated the strategically significant city as rebel troops advanced.
The Syrian government no longer controls the district of Jaramana in Damascus, the observatory stated on Saturday. A bust of the president’s late father, Hafez al-Assad, was being torn down in Jaramana, according to footage confirmed by NBC News.
The monitoring group said on Friday that over 90% of the Daraa region, including Daraa city, was under the hands of rebels in the south.
Since pro-democracy demonstrations there in 2011 ignited the nation’s ongoing civil war, Daraa represents both a strategic and symbolic win for the rebels. It is also a crucial border crossing.
Meanwhile, the Syrian army charged HTS of disseminating videos that claimed it had seized control of rural Damascus neighborhoods to terrorize residents.
It said in a another statement that its forces in Daraa had repositioned and formed a solid, unified defense and security perimeter in that direction.
If confirmed, the fall of Homs would leave no significant city between rebel forces and Damascus, and three of the country’s five largest cities would be under the control of HTS-led troops.
Damascus may fall soon, according to a senior administration source and a U.S. defense official, but they did not provide a timeframe.
HTS-led terrorists have taken control of Aleppo in the north and the central city of Hama in less than two weeks. On Thursday, government soldiers were driven out of the city.
The threat to Homs and the breakdown of government authority in Daraa point to an increasingly precarious position for Assad’s rule.
Russia has maintained a military presence, notably a naval base at Tartus, while Iran has traditionally backed Assad. However, larger regional crises, such as Russia’s protracted war with Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza and conflicts with Hezbollah in Lebanon, have diminished both countries’ influence.
H.A. Hellyer, a senior associate fellow at the London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute, told NBC News over the phone on Saturday that if the rebels capture Homs, it’s essentially Assad’s last stand.
They will all be concentrated on Damascus and the coastal region of Latakia when they seize Homs, which will effectively cut off Damascus.
However, Hellyer stated that despite the rebels’ quick advance, a final resolution to the battle was still pending.
He went on to say that it all depends on how much fighting spirit remains in this Syrian army rump. How much they believe they can withstand in terms of Iranian and Russian backing, which hasn’t been delivered.
The collapse of Aleppo and Hama, along with other towns like Idlib and many rural communities, has reportedly put Assad’s forces under a great deal of strain as conflict between government troops and different rebel factions rages throughout the nation, according to a number of sources from throughout the nation.
Kurdish fighters also took control of government posts in eastern Syria, close to the city of Raqqa and Deir Ez-Zor, and pro-Assad troops were fighting them, the observatory reported.
Due to the security situation in southern Syria, Jordan’s interior ministry said that it was suspending its Jaber border crossing to all outbound traffic, according to official media.
For the first time since Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Mideast War and annexed it in 1981, the observatory said on Saturday that Syrian government forces have left the Israeli-controlled region.
According to the observatory, since the rebels launched their onslaught, more than 820 people have been murdered nationwide, including 111 civilians.
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