Rebel forces close in on strategic city of Homs in central Syria as army retreats in the east

Kurdish-led group supported by the US takes over eastern areas near Iraq

Syrian rebels closed in on the central city of Homs on Friday while US-backed Kurdish militia took over eastern regions and security forces withdrew from areas near the border with Jordan, posing a significant challenge to President Bashar Al Assad's grip on strategic parts of the country.

The rebels “have consolidated control on the towns of Rastan and Talbiseh”, close to Homs, the operations room of the opposition forces announced on Telegram. A government source confirmed the announcement, without giving details.

In eastern Syria, the country's breadbasket and oil production centre, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group dominated by Kurdish militia, overran the provincial capital of Deir Ezzor and the city of Al Bukamal on the Iraqi border, an SDF official told The National.

The two cities “were captured this afternoon without any major fighting” after pro-Iranian Iraqi Shiite auxiliaries withdrew to Iraq, following the retreat of the "Syrian army's elite fourth division to Damascus, the SDF official said.

SDF militia chief Mazloum Abdi, whose forces had collaborated with Damascus for years, said the Syrian army appears to have collapsed. “We were surprised by the collapse of the Syrian government forces,” Mr Abdi told reporters.

The SDF is part of the myriad non-state groups that have emerged since the country fragmented over the last decade into zones controlled by the US, Russia, Iran and Turkey. The rebel forces include Turkish-backed factions based in north-west Syria, near the Turkish border.

Their offensive, which has altered the trajectory of Syria's 13-year conflict, is in its second week. It received an apparent endorsement from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said on Friday that he hoped the rebels would continue their advance.

“The advances of the opposition are continuing as of now. Our hope is that this walk in Syria continues without any issues,” he said.

Abu Mohammed Al Julani, leader of Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, said the goal was to overthrow Mr Al Assad. “When we talk about objectives, the goal of the revolution remains the overthrow of this regime,” Mr Al Julani told CNN. “It is our right to use all available means to achieve that goal.”

A Syrian military defector working with the rebels expects an “easy takeover” of Homs, given the flat topography of the city and the fact that tens of thousands of its Alawite inhabitants had fled.

In the southern governorate of Deraa, the origin of the 2011 revolt, rebels on Friday overran Nasib, the only functioning border crossing with Jordan, after fighting with the army's 52nd Brigade, regime and opposition sources said. Jordan's Interior Ministry said it has closed the crossing.

In the mostly Druze province of Suweida, east of Deraa, security forces have started withdrawing from the provincial capital centre of 13 months of anti-government protests, residents said.

“The regime is collapsing in Suwaida,” prominent dissident Suhail Thebian told The National from the city of Suweida.

Crowds overran the central prison in the area and freed hundreds of prisoners, while Druze militiamen overran regime roadblocks and security compounds in the city, Mr Thebian said.

A peaceful disobedience movement started in Suweida governorate, demanding the end of the President's rule in August last year. The governorate is inhabited mostly by members of the Druze minority, who comprised around 700,000 out of Syria’s 20 million population, before the 2011 revolt.

The Russian embassy in Syria urged its nationals to leave the country on commercial flights, Russia's Tass state news agency reported on Friday. Moscow has been a key backer of the Syrian government since 2011.

Mapped: Syrian civil war

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Rastan and Talbiseh fell after regime-allied Russian aircraft bombed a bridge leading to the central city of Homs on Friday morning, aiming to slow down the rebels, following their takeover of the main cities of Hama and Aleppo. Social media channels showed convoys of rebel forces driving though Rastan and Talbiseh before the operations room announcement.

Homs is home to Syria's main oil refinery and its capture would cut the motorway leading from the capital to the Mediterranean coast, where Russia has its prized naval base at Tartus. Members of Mr Assad's Alawite sect have been fleeing Homs in their thousands. Most are heading to the Alawite Mountains along the coast.

Anti-aircraft guns thundered in an attempt to intercept drones over the city, residents said. “People do not feel safe,” said a city public worker. “The roads to the coast are jam-packed.”

Rebels will violate you, rob you and take away your lives. Stand up

Rami Makhlouf,
cousin of President Bashar Al Assad

Already the main cities of Hama and Aleppo – Syria's business capital – have fallen to rebels led by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, a former affiliate of Al Qaeda. Turkish proxies combined under a formation called the Syrian National Army are also taking part.

Opposition sources say the Syrian army has abandoned most of its positions in and around Rastan. It was the scene of an early defection of 2,000 army personnel who turned against Mr Assad when he crushed pro-democracy protests in March 2011.

Rastan is the home city of Maj Gen Manaf Tlass, one of the most senior officers to defect when the civil war broke out, though he has kept a line of communications open with Russia. Moscow intervened in the civil war to save Syria's government, after a similar rebel advance in 2015.

Homs has been historically Sunni dominated but gained a sizeable Alawite population after a 1963 coup that brought Alawite officers to power in Syria. With the takeover came massive awarding of jobs in the public sector and security forces to members of the sect, who comprised about 10 per cent of Syria's 20 million population before the 2011 revolt.

Rebel advances have altered lines of control in Syria agreed to by international powers over the past decade. It has strengthened the position of Ankara compared with Russia, Iran and the US, each of which have their own zones of control, manned by proxy militias. The pro-Iranian Hezbollah, the most powerful non-state group backing Mr Assad, has been subjected to punishing Israeli strikes in Syria and Lebanon over the past year.

A truce agreed to last month largely stopped Israeli strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon, but not in Syria. On Sunday, Israeli planes struck areas west of Homs and south of the Syrian port city of Tartus. Both regions are part of an Iranian-controlled regional supply lines to Hezbollah.

On Friday, Reuters quoted an Iranian official as saying Tehran aimed to send weapons and military advisers to Syria in support of the government, but did not offer a timetable for that to happen.

Mr Assad has not made any public statement since the rebels started their offensive. But on Thursday, Rami Makhlouf, an Alawite businessmen and a cousin of the President, who had fallen out with him, made an appeal for sect unity. Addressing the Alawites, Mr Makhlouf said on Facebook that the “situation today is very dangerous” and the rebels “will violate you, rob you and take away your lives”.

“Stand up,” Mr Makhlouf said.

Anti-government fighters advance in Hama, Syria – in pictures

A member of the Syrian opposition passes a Hama governorate sign on the Damascus to Aleppo motorway on Tuesday. EPA

Signs of fighting in Hama. AP

Anti-government fighters in the town of Suran, between Aleppo and Hama. AFP

Syrian opposition fighters with a tank taken from the army in the town of Maarat Al Numan, south of Idlib. AP

An abandoned Syrian army tank on the outskirts of Hama. AP

More abandoned tanks on the highway to Damascus, near the town of Suran, north of Hama. AFP

Civilians escape the fighting in Suran. AP

Anti-government fighters take possession of a Syrian army tank in Suran. AFP

Anti-government fighters on the highway to Damascus. AFP

Civilians flee fighting in Suran. AFP

Fighting rages in Suran. AFP

An aerial view of Suran. AFP