The alliance of jihadists and Syrian rebels that leads ten days advancing inexorably from the northwest of the country against the forces of President Bashar al Assad announced this Saturday the beginning of the “final stage” of its operations to surround the country’s capital, Damascus, while local observers place the opposition forces just ten kilometers from the city.
“Our forces have begun to launch the final stage of the siege of the capital. Damascus awaits us”, announced the leader of the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham and leader of the offensive, Abu Mohamed al Golani.
Although the Army has denied that its forces are withdrawing from the towns closest to the country’s capital –The military speaks of a “false media campaign” and guarantee that they continue in their positions in the so-called Damascus countryside -, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights assures in its latest evaluation that The HTS is already in the town of Artuz, ten kilometers from the capital, and that opposition forces in Deraa province, south of Damascus, are also approaching the capital.
The Syrian Army, on the other hand, maintains that it continues fighting against opposition forces in the northwest of the country, specifically in the province of Homs, to prevent the advance of the rebels towards the north of the capital. Similarly, the Ministry of Defense has also denied information that pointed to the possible mass desertion of its forces in the south of the country towards Iraq through the Al Qaim crossing.
“Our forces in the southern region are carrying carry out a deployment in accordance with military plans and orders”, The Army has assured in the use of a euphemism that it has been using since the beginning of this campaign every time it withdraws from these positions. “All these movements are normal and fall within the framework of the Armed Forces, which is what the enemy circles they are trying to twist to spread rumors among citizens,” the Ministry added on its Facebook page.
The president is still in the country
In the midst of this situation, the Syrian Presidency has responded to rumors that pointed to the departure of the president, Bashar al Assad, from the country. In fact, this past Friday, the Wall Street Journalciting sources close to the crisis, reported that Jordan and Egypt had recommended Al Assad leave Syria to form “a government in exile” in the face of the advance of the opponents, information shortly after denied by the Syrian authorities, as happened again this Saturday.
“Some foreign media publish rumors and false news about the departure of the President from Damascus, or about lightning visits to one country or another. LThe Presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic denies all these rumors,” Al Assad’s office said in a statement published by the official Syrian news agency SANA.
The Presidency also denounces that this type of rumors “are not new and are part of a pattern of attempts to deceive and influence the State and Syrian society throughout the last years of the war.” Thus, President Al Assad “continues with his work and his national and constitutional tasks from the capital, Damascus,” the statement concludes.
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