Rebels take over another city – Assad family fled?

Civil war in Syria

Rebels take over symbolic city

The Islamist rebels in Syria are probably only a few kilometers from Homs. Arab countries should pressure Assad to leave Syria.

The Islamist fighters in Syria are apparently continuing to advance rapidly in the country. After taking over the major cities of Aleppo and Hama in the northwest of the country, the group Haiat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies are now only five kilometers from the city of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday. HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani reiterated the goal of overthrowing ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian sources also report the first fighting in the capital Damascus. There were reportedly gunshots near Assad’s presidential palace and explosions at the Defense Ministry. Smoke is also said to be rising from the state television building. Meanwhile, the Kurdish armed forces are also using the chaos to gain further ground.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Egyptian and Jordanian diplomats have advised Assad to leave the country and set up a government in exile. The Syrian dictator’s wife and his three children are said to be already in Russia, and a brother-in-law is said to have sought refuge in the United Arab Emirates.

The Islamist rebels have previously seized control of the southern city of Daraa, the starting point of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011. It is the fourth city his forces have lost in a week. According to rebel circles, an agreement was reached for an orderly withdrawal of the military from Daraa.

An agreement grants army members safe passage to the capital Damascus, about 100 kilometers north. Daraa, which had a population of more than 100,000 before the civil war began 13 years ago, is symbolic as the cradle of the insurgency. It is the capital of a province with around a million inhabitants that borders Jordan.

Government security forces had previously left posts and bases, reported the Observatory, which tracks the war in the country with a network of informants. The insurgents therefore called on members of the Syrian armed forces to defect.

video | Syria: Here the rebels are advancing in Hama

According to the Observatory, government troops have also withdrawn from the city of Homs. However, militias loyal to the regime are still stationed in Syria’s third largest city. Syrian military circles rejected reports of a troop withdrawal. The Syrian armed forces remain present in Homs and the surrounding area. The military had previously denied similar reports as the rebel offensive reached the city of Hama. Military bloggers report that the rebels have also captured the town of Salamiyah, west of Homs.

Homs is the third largest city in the country after Damascus and Aleppo. On the way to Homs, the HTS and its allies entered the cities of Rastan and Talbisseh, the Observatory said. There was a “complete absence” of Assad government troops in these two cities.

If the Islamists also take Homs, this would cut off the connection between the southern capital Damascus and the Mediterranean coast. There are numerous strongholds of the Assad family on the coast.

On Friday, according to the Observatory, the army also withdrew from the city of Deir Essor in the east of the country. The “regime forces” together with leaders of allied pro-Iranian groups “suddenly” withdrew from Deir Essor and its surrounding area, and entire convoys with soldiers were moving towards central Syria, the head of the observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, told the AFP news agency.

The Iranian army has also apparently begun evacuating military commanders and personnel from Syria. According to a report in the New York Times, those who left include high-ranking commanders of the powerful Iranian Quds Brigades, the external branch of the Revolutionary Guard Corps. Members of the National Guard, some Iranian diplomats, their families and Iranian civilians were also evacuated, Iranian officials said.