BEIRUT (AP) — Insurgents’ stunning march across Syria accelerated Saturday with news that they had reached the gates of the capital and that government forces had abandoned the central city of Homs. The government was forced to deny rumors that President Bashar Assad had fled the country.

The loss of Homs is a potentially crippling blow for Assad. It stands at an important intersection between Damascus, the capital, and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus — the Syrian leader’s base of support and home to a Russian strategic naval base.

The pro-government Sham FM news outlet reported that government forces took positions outside Syria’s third-largest city, without elaborating. Rami Abdurrahman who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Syrian troops and members of different security agencies have withdrawn from the city, adding that rebels have entered parts of it.

The insurgency announced later Saturday that it had taken over Homs. The city’s capture is a major victory for the rebels, who have already seized the cities of Aleppo and Hama, as well as large parts of the south, in a lightning offensive that began Nov. 27. Analysts said rebel control of Homs would be a game-changer.

The rebels’ moves around Damascus, reported by the monitor and a rebel commander, came after the Syrian army withdrew from much of southern part of the country, leaving more areas, including several provincial capitals, under the control of opposition fighters.

For the first time in the country’s long-running civil war, the government now has control of only three of 14 provincial capitals: Damascus, Latakia and Tartus.

  • jeffw@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    37
    ·
    22 days ago

    Can’t ever remember something going from “longstanding conflict I forgot about” to “rebels are about to overthrow the government” this quickly

    • Rusty@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      22 days ago

      So Poland can ivade Belarus, take back Brest and poo-tin would not intervene?

      • granolabar@kbin.melroy.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        22 days ago

        i think better option is for Belarusians to topple their daddy dictator and shift their geopolitical posture to bve Ukraine friendly instead of whatever fuck their regime is currently doing.

        last time Russia stopped them…

          • granolabar@kbin.melroy.org
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            9
            ·
            22 days ago

            Unlike Belarusians, Georgians will fight.

            I am not sure why Belarusians are such docile dogs, i guess too much russians around.

            During WW2 they were the most feared partisans and Germans shitted their pants having to be in those woods haha

            So they got it in them, just to treat Russian trash the same way, remove it.

            • takeda@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              6
              ·
              22 days ago

              Belarusians were also fighting, but Russia entered Belarus and helped Lukashenko to pacify them.

  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    21 days ago

    Ha! Asad fell! Now run fucker! I’m sure he’ll be hunted down like a dog. Reminds me of the UnitedHealth guy. But let’s wait and see if Asad can be saved… I mean made holy…lots and lots of holiness, like cheese.