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War monitor says Syria rebels enter strategic city of Homs
A war monitor said late Saturday that Islamist-led rebels had entered the strategic city of Homs, on the way towards Damascus where Syria's embattled government said it was setting up an impenetrable security cordon.
The defence ministry denied rebels had entered Homs, describing the situation there as "safe and stable."
The capture of Homs, Syria's third-largest city, would cut the seat of power in the capital Damascus from the Mediterranean coast, a key bastion of the Assad clan which has ruled Syria for the past five decades.
Homs would be the third major city seized by the rebels who began their advance 10 days ago, reigniting a years-long war that had become largely dormant.
"Rebel factions entered the city of Homs and took control of some neighbourhoods after the withdrawal of security forces and the army from their last positions in the city," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Commander Hassan Abdel Ghani, of the rebel alliance that launched the offensive, said on Telegram that "our forces have begun advancing into the city of Homs".
Syria's defence ministry, however, said that news "about terrorists entering the city of Homs is unfounded."
The ministry said "armed forces are deployed around the city, positioned in strong defensive lines reinforced with various types of weapons."
Aron Lund, a fellow of the Century International think tank, has said that should the government of President Bashar al-Assad lose Homs, it wouldn't mean the end of his rule, but "with no secure route from Damascus to the coast, I'd say it's over as a credible state entity".
In Damascus, about 140 kilometres (85 miles) south of Homs, Interior Minister Mohammed al-Rahmoun told state television that "a very strong security and military cordon" was being established around the capital "and no one... can penetrate this defensive line that we, the armed forces, are building."
Earlier, Assad's government denied the army had withdrawn from areas around Damascus.
- 'Scared' -
Rebel commander Ghani had said his forced had "begun the final phase of encircling the capital".
The leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group which heads the assault, told fighters to prepare to take the capital.
"Damascus awaits you," he said on Telegram, using his real name instead of his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
But the defence ministry insisted: "There is no truth to news claiming our armed forces... have withdrawn" from positions near Damascus.
The Syrian army said that, in addition to the area around Damascus, it was reinforcing positions in the south, and operations against the rebels were beginning in the Hama, Homs and Daraa areas.
AFP has been unable to independently verify some of the information provided by the government and the rebels, as its journalists cannot reach the areas around Damascus where the rebels say they are present.
Residents of the capital described to AFP a state of panic as traffic jams clogged the city centre, people sought supplies and queued to withdraw money from ATMs.
"The situation was not like this when I left my house this morning... suddenly everyone was scared," said one woman, Rania.
A few kilometres (miles) away, the mood was starkly different. In a Damascus suburb, witnesses said protesters toppled a statue of Assad's father, the late president Hafez al-Assad.
AFPTV images from Hama, Syria's fourth-largest city, showed abandoned tanks and other armoured vehicles, one of them on fire.
Hama resident Kharfan Mansour said he was "happy with the liberation of Hama and the liberation of Syria from the Assad regime".
The president's office denied reports Assad had left Damascus, saying he was "following up on his work and national and constitutional duties from the capital".
- Soldiers 'fled' -
As government forces fall back, a war monitor and Abdel Ghani said rebels were within 20 kilometres (12 miles) of Damascus.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces had ceded more key ground, losing control of all southern Daraa province, cradle of the 2011 uprising.
The army said it was "redeploying and repositioning" in Daraa and another southern province, Sweida.
The Britain-based Observatory said troops were also evacuating posts in Quneitra, near the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
Jordan has urged its citizens to leave neighbouring Syria "as soon as possible", as have Assad ally Russia and the United States, which both keep troops in Syria.
An AFP correspondent in Daraa saw local fighters guarding public property and civil institutions.
In Sweida, a local fighter told AFP that after government forces withdrew "from their positions and headquarters, we are now securing and protecting vital facilities".
An Iraqi security source told AFP that Baghdad has allowed in hundreds of Syrian soldiers, who "fled the front lines", through the Al-Qaim border crossing. A second source put the figure at 2,000 troops, including officers.
- 'Tired of war' -
HTS is rooted in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda. Proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Western governments, it has sought to soften its image in recent years, and told minority groups living in areas they now control not to worry.
Since the offensive began, at least 826 people, mostly combatants but also including 111 civilians, have been killed, the Observatory said.
The United Nations said the violence has displaced 370,000 people.
UN special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, called for "urgent political talks" to implement Security Council Resolution 2254 of 2015, which set out a roadmap for a negotiated settlement.
US President-elect Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that the United States should "not get involved", after outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Friday for a "political solution to the conflict", in a call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
After Fidan and his Iranian and Russian counterparts discussed Syria in Qatar on Saturday, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said they agreed on the initiation of "political dialogue between the Syrian government and legitimate opposition groups".
Russia's Sergei Lavrov said it was "inadmissible" to allow a "terrorist group to take control" of Syrian territory.
Moscow and Tehran have supported Assad's government and army during the war, as has Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
A source close to Hezbollah said it had sent 2,000 fighters into Syria, to an area near the Lebanese border, "to defend its positions".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government backs some armed groups in northern Syria, said Saturday that Syria "is tired of war, blood and tears".
M.F.Schmitz--JdB
