Syrian rebels approach key city on way to Damascus
Photo: Syrian rebels ready to take Homs (Getty Images)
Syrian rebel forces continued their lightning offensive against Bashar al-Assad's troops. They approached the large city of Homs in central Syria, which opens the way to the capital Damascus, according to Reuters.
The rebels said they had captured the cities of Talbisa and Rastan, approaching several kilometers to Homs, a key city at the crossroads linking the capital Damascus with the Assad-controlled coastal areas.
Photo: Google Maps
The rebels took advantage of the rapid capture of Aleppo in the north and Hama in west-central Syria to advance to Homs.
In an online post, the rebel operational headquarters called on Homs residents to rise up, writing: “Your time has come.”
Capturing Homs would cut Damascus off from the coast, a longtime stronghold of Assad's Alawite minority, where his Russian allies have a naval and air base.
Russian bombing overnight destroyed the Rustan bridge on the M5 highway, the main route to Homs, to prevent rebels from using it to advance, a Syrian army officer told Reuters.
He mentioned that the bridge had been struck at least eight times and added that government forces were sending reinforcements to positions around Homs.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported that thousands of people have begun to flee Homs towards the Mediterranean coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus, government strongholds.
During the most intense years of the civil war, Assad relied heavily on military support from Russia and Iran, which helped him retake most of Syria's territory and major cities before the front lines stabilized in 2020.
However, Russia has been focused on a full-scale invasion of Ukraine since 2022. And many of the senior leadership of Hezbollah, the most powerful pro-Iranian force, have been killed by Israel in the past two months. Hezbollah's new leader, Naim Kassem, pledged support for Syria in a televised statement.
Uprising goals
Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the head of the Syrian group leading the large-scale offensive, told CNN that his group - a former al-Qaeda unit now known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - aims to “build Syria” and bring Syrian refugees from Lebanon and Europe home.
“When we talk about goals, the goal of the revolution remains the overthrow of this regime. We have the right to use all available means to achieve this goal,” Abu Mohammed al-Golani said.
In 2016, the HTS separated from al-Qaeda claimed that it did not pose a threat to the West, and spent years trying to soften its image by presenting itself as a viable alternative to Assad.
Syrian rebels captured the cities of Aleppo and Hama almost without a fight.
