The rebels who launched a lightning offensive in Syria announced on Saturday the capture of the strategic city of Homsnorth of Damascus, and are approaching the capital where the government claims to have established an impenetrable security cordon.
The Syrian Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham He posted on Telegram that his forces control the entire city of Homs, while his leader Ahmed al Chareh called the victory “historic.”
The Syrian Defense Ministry denied reports of rebels entering Homs and described the situation as “safe and stable.”
The capture of Homs, Syria’s third city located 150 km north of Damascus, would sever the seat of power in the capital from the Mediterranean coast, a key stronghold of the Assad clan, which has ruled Syria for the past five decades.
Homs It would be the third major city taken by rebels led by Islamists after the start of its dazzling offensive on November 27, in an unexpected turn in the civil war that began in 2011.
Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), announced in turn that “rebel factions entered the city of Homs and took over some neighborhoods.”
The observatory has an extensive network of informants in the field.
For his part, the commander of the rebel alliance, Hasan Abdel Ghani, stated on Telegram that more than 3,500 prisoners from the Homs prison had been released and that they have taken four cities.
«With the grace of God we have managed to liberate four Syrian cities in 24 hours: Daraa, Quneitra, Sweida and Homs. “Our operations continue (…) and our eyes are on the capital, Damascus,” Ghani added.
Aron Lund, a member of the think tank Century International, indicated that the loss of Homs does not mean the end of President Bashar al-Assad’s government. But “without a safe route from Damascus to the coast, I would say it is finished as a credible state entity,” he said.
In Damascus, Interior Minister Mohamed al Rahmun declared on state television that the capital had a “very strong military and security cordon.”
“No one (…) can penetrate this line of defense that we, the armed forces, are building,” he stressed.
“Our forces have begun the final phase of encircling the capital, Damascus,” said Commander Ghani of the Islamist group HTS.
“Damascus awaits you,” he declared on Telegram, using his real name instead of his nom de guerre, Abu Mohamed al Jolani.
The Syrian army stated that it was reinforcing its positions around Damascus, but also in the south and in the central areas of Hama and Homs.
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