The Syrians jihadists they are now just 20 kilometers from the capital Damascus, after taking control of Deraa province in the south Syriaone of their commanders and the non-governmental organization Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said.
Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of OSDH, told AFP that rebel fighters control all of Deraa, the cradle of the 2011 uprising against the Bashar al-Assad regime. One of their commanders, Hassan Abdel Ghani, confirmed they are “less than 20 kilometers” from the southern entrance to Damascus.
Jihadists captured Aleppo last week and government forces have begun to crumble across the country at breakneck speed as rebels seize several major cities one after the other and re-emerge in areas where the insurgency was thought to have been quelled for years. .
As well as Aleppo in the north, Hama in central Syria and Deir Ezzor in the east, the rebels say they have also captured Quneitra, Deraa and Sweida in the south and are pushing towards the capital Damascus.
BIG: Syrian opposition forces in southern Syria have taken full control of Quneitra. pic.twitter.com/MJjQELF5Eb
— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 7, 2024
Government forces have concentrated on Homs. State television and military sources said airstrikes had been launched against rebel positions while reinforcements were arriving to defend the city.
According to the Observatory, seven civilians were killed by the Syrian and Russian strikes in Homs.
Meanwhile, the rebels are expanding their control over almost all of southwestern Syria and say they have captured Sanamain, on the main road from Damascus to Jordan. The Syrian army says it is redeploying, without admitting it has lost ground.
NEW: Syrian regime forces withdraw from Al Kiswah, 20km to Damascus city pic.twitter.com/lxEnZDEx8j
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) December 7, 2024
The speed with which events are unfolding has stunned most Arab countries and is causing a new wave of concern about the stability of the region. Qatar said today that Syria’s territorial integrity is under threat.
Syria’s civil war, which broke out in 2011 as an uprising against the Assad regime, created space for jihadists to seize large swathes of land and launch terrorist attacks around the world, while at the same time seven million refugees fled to neighboring countries and major foreign powers established bases in the country.
Western officials say the Syrian army is in a difficult position, unable to stop the rebels and forced to retreat.
Assad has for years relied on his allies to suppress the insurgents: Russian warplanes bombed from the air while Iran sent its own allies, fighters from Hezbollah and Iraqi paramilitary groups, to bolster ground forces. But Russia since 2022 has focused on the war in Ukraine, and Hezbollah has suffered heavy losses in its own war with Israel, severely limiting its capabilities.
On Friday, Russia urged its citizens to leave Syria. Iran has expelled the families of its diplomats, according to an official.
Hezbollah is sending reinforcements
Hezbollah sent some “surveillance forces” to Homs, but a larger force would be exposed to Israeli strikes. Israel bombed two border crossings on the Lebanon-Syria border on Friday.
Iraqi paramilitaries, backed by Iran, have been put on alert and thousands of them are ready to deploy to Syria and have gathered near the border. But they have not yet been ordered to cross them, two of their commanders said. Iraq is not seeking a military intervention in Syria, a government spokesman said.
Talks between the foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey have begun in Doha, Qatar, to discuss the situation in Syria. Iranian Minister Abbas Araghsi told Iranian television that “no concrete decisions have been made” on the future of Syria and that the Doha meeting is aimed at ensuring the country’s territorial integrity.
The article Jihadists just 20km from Damascus – Assad’s army says it is ‘regrouping’ was published on NewsIT .