HOMS: Syrian rebels were poised to press their lightning advance on Saturday after reaching the edge of the central city of Homs, with government forces attempting to buttress collapsing frontlines and save President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule.
Since the rebels’ sweep into Aleppo a week ago, government defences have crumbled across the country at dizzying speed as insurgents seized a string of major cities and rose up in places where the rebellion had long seemed over.
Besides capturing Aleppo in the north, Hama in the centre and Deir al-Zor in the east, rebels rose up in southern Suweida and Deraa, saying on Friday they had taken control of the two cities and posting videos showing insurgent celebrations there.
Syria’s military said it was carrying out airstrikes around Hama and Homs and reinforcing on that front. It also said it was repositioning around Deraa and Suweida, without acknowledging their capture by rebels.
The pace of events has stunned Arab capitals, Western officials say, raising their fears of a fresh wave of regional instability.
Syria’s civil war, which erupted in 2011 as an uprising against Assad’s rule, dragged in big outside powers, created space for various factions, groups to plot attacks around the world and sent millions of refugees into neighbouring states.
Western officials say the Syrian military is in a difficult situation, unable to halt the rebel gains and forced into retreat.
Assad had long relied on allies to subdue the rebels, with Russian warplanes bombing from the skies while Iran sent allied forces including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraqi armed group to bolster the Syrian military and storm insurgent strongholds.
But Russia has been focused on the war in Ukraine since 2022 and Hezbollah’s leadership has been decimated this year in its own gruelling war with Israel.
Russia on Friday urged its nationals to leave the country. Iran evacuated families of diplomats from Syria, an Iranian official said.
Hezbollah has sent some “supervising forces” to Homs on Friday but any significant deployment would risk exposure to Israeli airstrikes, Western officials said. Israel attacked two Lebanon-Syria border crossings on Friday, Lebanon said.
Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups are on high alert, with thousands of heavily armed fighters ready to deploy to Syria, many of them amassed near the border. But they have not yet been ordered to cross, two of their commanders said. Iraq does not seek military intervention in Syria, a government spokesman said on Friday.
Iran, Russia, and Turkey, which is the main foreign supporter of the rebels, will meet on Saturday to discuss the crisis in Syria, a diplomatic source said on Friday.
Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said there had been no serious effort by Assad to reconcile with his own people and that civil war threatened Syria’s territorial integrity.
Battle for Homs
The rebels said they were “at the walls” of Homs after taking the last village on its northern outskirts late on Friday, a day after seizing nearby Hama following a brief battle outside the city.
Inside Homs, a resident said the situation had felt normal until Friday, but had grown more tense with the sound of airstrikes and gunfire clearly audible and pro-Assad armed groups setting up checkpoints.
