Syrian insurgents have reached the suburbs of Damascus in swiftly moving offensive

Syrian insurgents have reached the suburbs of Damascus as a part of a quickly shifting offensive that has seen them take over a few of Syria’s largest cities, opposition activists and a insurgent commander mentioned Saturday.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition conflict monitor, mentioned insurgents at the moment are lively within the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya. He added that opposition fighters on Saturday have been additionally marching from japanese Syria towards the Damascus suburb of Harasta.

A commander with the insurgents, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the Telegram messaging app that opposition forces have began finishing up the “closing stage” of their offensive by encircling Damascus. He added that insurgents have been headed from southern Syria towards Damascus.

The redeployment away from the provinces of Daraa and Sweida got here as Syria’s navy despatched giant numbers of reinforcements to defend the important thing central metropolis of Homs, Syria’s third largest, as insurgents approached its outskirts.

The speedy advances by insurgents is a surprising reversal of fortunes for Syria’s President Bashar Assad, who seems to be largely on his personal, with erstwhile allies preoccupied with different conflicts.

His chief worldwide backer, Russia, is busy with its conflict in Ukraine, and Lebanon’s highly effective Hezbollah, which at one level despatched hundreds of fighters to shore up his forces, has been weakened by a yearlong battle with Israel. Iran, in the meantime, has seen its proxies throughout the area degraded by Israeli common airstrikes.

On Saturday, President-elect Donald Trump commented on the state of affairs on Fact Social, saying, “THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!”

How the battle reignited

Hundreds of individuals have been fleeing from the realm amid the dramatic escalation within the civil conflict, which had simmered with out main advances by both facet for years till the rebels mounted a shock offensive about two weeks in the past.

The rebels took full management of one other metropolis, Hama, and a few week after they started a sweeping raid throughout the north of the nation. The primary main prize of their offensive was seizing management of Aleppo per week in the past, which was lengthy Syria’s second most populous metropolis. 

HTS chief Abu Mohammed al-Golani advised CNN in an unique interview Thursday from Syria that the goal of the offensive is to overthrow Assad’s authorities.

The Britain-based Observatory mentioned Syrian troops have withdrawn from a lot of the 2 southern provinces and are sending reinforcements to Homs, the place a battle is looming. If the insurgents seize Homs, they might minimize the hyperlink between Damascus, Assad’s seat of energy, and the coastal area the place the president enjoys vast assist.

The Syrian military mentioned in an announcement Saturday that it has carried out redeployment and repositioning in Sweida and Daraa after its checkpoints got here below assault by “terrorists.” The military mentioned it’s organising a “robust and coherent defensive and safety belt within the space,” apparently to defend Damascus from the south.

Since Syria’s battle broke out in March 2011, the Syrian authorities has been referring to opposition gunmen as terrorists.

Within the gas-rich nation of Qatar, the overseas ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey have been scheduled to fulfill to debate the state of affairs in Syria. Turkey is a predominant backer of the rebels in search of to overthrow Assad.

Qatar’s prime diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to benefit from the lull in combating in recent times to deal with the nation’s underlying issues. “Assad didn’t seize this chance to start out participating and restoring his relationship together with his folks,” he mentioned.

Sheikh Mohammed mentioned he was stunned by how shortly the rebels have superior and mentioned there’s a actual risk to Syria’s “territorial integrity.” He mentioned the conflict might “harm and destroy what’s left if there isn’t any sense of urgency” to start out a political course of.

After the autumn of the cities of Daraa and Sweida early Saturday, Syrian authorities forces stay accountable for 5 provincial capitals — Damascus, Homs and Quneitra, in addition to Latakia and Tartus on the Mediterranean value.

Tartus is house to the one Russian naval base exterior the previous Soviet Union whereas Latakia is house to a significant Russian air base.

On Friday, U.S.-backed fighters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces captured vast components of the japanese province of Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq in addition to the provincial capital that carries the identical title. The seize of areas in Deir el-Zour is a blow to Iran’s affect within the area as the realm is the gateway to the hall linking the Mediterranean to Iran, a provide line for Iran-backed fighters, together with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

With the seize of a predominant border crossing with Iraq by the SDF and after opposition fighters took management of the Naseeb border crossing to Jordan in southern Syria, the Syrian authorities’s solely gateway to the surface world is the Masnaa border crossing with Lebanon.