Rebel forces in Syria said they were advancing towards the capital Damascus after capturing four other towns in the past 24 hours, as the insurgents’ lightning advance continued, threatening President Bashar al-Assad’s hold on power.
In the early hours of Sunday morning local time, the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, said on the messaging app Telegram that rebel forces had entered Damascus and reached Sednaya Prison, a government facility dubbed “the human slaughterhouse” by human rights group Amnesty International.
“Our forces have started entering the capital Damascus,” the group said in a message. In a later statement, the group said it was “the end of the era of injustice in Sednaya Prison.”
Earlier, the group claimed to have taken control of the north-central city of Homs on Saturday.
HTS leader Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani released a video claiming that government forces withdrew without a fight, and the rebel group later issued a statement: “Our eyes are on the capital, Damascus.”
Anti-government forces pass an overturned Syrian regime military vehicle on the road, after rebels took control of the central Hama governorate, December 7, 2024.
Omar Haj Kadour/AFP via Getty Images
Lightning advance of rebel groups
Overall, the insurgent group claimed the capture of three other Syrian towns over the past day, including Daraa, Queinetra and Sweida, as part of a series of rapid advances by opposition fighters that met little resistance from government forces.
Throughout the day on Saturday, as rebel forces were on the move, the Syrian army withdrew from much of southern Syria, leaving more parts of the country, including two provincial capitals, under control of the rebels, according to the army and the opposition. war monitor.
In a statement released Saturday, the Syrian government was forced to deny that Assad had fled the country, issuing a statement calling media reports to the contrary “rumors and fake news.”
U.S. intelligence was preparing for Assad’s front line to collapse under pressure from rebel forces, and they knew that Assad’s family had left the country for Moscow.
Armed rebels celebrate their advance in Hama, Syria, by firing into the air on December 6, 2024. HTS-led rebels have intensified their offensive, taking control of key areas of Aleppo and Hama and pushing further towards Homs, causing mass displacement and increased instability in west-central Syria.
Bilal Alhammoud/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty
Earlier this week, government forces withdrew from Hama, Syria’s fourth-largest city, located between the capital Damascus to the south and Aleppo – Syria’s second city – to the north.
Aleppo fell to the rebels’ lightning offensive on November 29. Hama was one of the few major cities that did not fall to anti-government forces after the failed 2011 revolution against the Assad regime.
Who are the Syrian rebels?
The rebel offensive is being led by HTS and a collection of Turkish-backed Syrian militias known as the Syrian National Army.
HTS, which has its roots in Al-Qaeda, is considered a terrorist organization by the United States.
However, in recent years the group has said it has severed ties with al-Qaida and sought to rebuild itself by focusing on promoting civilian government and military action, according to the Associated Press.
If Assad flees the country and HTS takes control of Syria’s government institutions, it is unclear how they will seek to govern.
“Are they going to go back to more of that when they were affiliated with al-Qaeda?” said Javed Ali, an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy, during an appearance on ABC News Live. “Or will it be more like the Taliban in Afghanistan, who are Islamist, conservative, but who, for the most part, have no intention of threatening their neighbors or having their country used as a launching pad for attacks against the West.”
What those responsible for the situation in Syria say
Ali called the developments a “catastrophic loss” for Iran, which has long supported Assad’s regime, and a “black mark” for the Russian government, which also supported Assad.
Citing media reports, both countries appear to have withdrawn their advisers and equipment from the country, Ali said.
“If these withdrawals continue, both on the Iranian and Russian sides, essentially only the Syrian army and security forces will be left,” he said. “And just as we saw in Afghanistan in 2021, they are unlikely to be able to resist HTS and all the other rebel groups that are currently on the outskirts of Damascus.”
President-elect Donald Trump commented on developments in the Syrian civil war on his social media platform Truth Social on Saturday and said the United States should stay completely away from the issue.
A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is pictured with its frame broken, at the premises of the Syrian regime’s political security arm, on the outskirts of the central city of Hama, after anti-government forces seized the area, on December 7. 2024.
Omar Haj Kadour/AFP via Getty Images
“Syria is a disaster, but it is not our friend,” AND THE UNITED STATES SHOULD NOT DO ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET HIM PLAY. DON’T GET INVOLVED!,” Trump posted.
In his message, Trump noted that Russia, which has long supported the Assad regime, is “stuck in Ukraine” and apparently unable to intervene in Syria. Trump said Assad’s departure “might actually be the best thing that could happen” to the Russian government.
Earlier on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commented on the rebel offensive in Syria, saying that Russia would oppose it “by all possible means” but that Russia would “actively encourage the need to resume dialogue with the opposition”, that is to say between the government and the government. rebels.
