Syrian President Bashar al-Assad finds himself increasingly cornered after the insurgent coalition led by Islamists and supported by Turkey that began an offensive against his government last week has announced the taking of Homsthe third largest city in Syria and a crucial strategic enclave.
“We announce the complete liberation of the city of Homs“said the spokesman for the alliance, Colonel Hasan Abdel Ghani, in a speech published on the movement’s Telegram account.
However, the Syrian Army, through the state agency SANA, has denial this information by ensuring that the situation is “safe and stable.”
“The situation is safe and stable, and our armed forces are deployed around the city and are positioned in fortified defensive lines reinforced with various types of weapons,” said Army information released by the official Syrian agency.
However, the Al Jazeera network has reported celebrations in the streets of Homswhere hundreds of people gathered at the iconic “clock roundabout” in the center of the city, demanding the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This place, loaded with symbolism, was the scene of a massacre in April 2011, at the beginning of the conflict, when at least 18 protesters were shot dead by security forces.
Homs, considered an opposition stronghold in the early years of the civil war that broke out in 2011, has witnessed intermittent fighting throughout the conflict.
If the capture of the city by the rebels is confirmed, it would be a significant blow to the regime in Damascussince it would leave the Syrian capital without a land connection with the Mediterranean cities of Tartus, fiefdom of the Al Assad family, and Latakia, the main base of the Russian forces that support the regime.
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