Thousands Flee as Rebel Forces Advance on Syria’s Third Largest City
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RDA Gulf Correspondent - . December 7, 2024
- . Update: December 10, 2024 1:26 am
Thousands of people fled Homs city following the takeover of two neighboring towns by rebel forces on Friday. Homs is Syria’s third largest city. Footage posted online shows vehicles loaded with people were seen departing Homs which the city has a large Alawite population. Most of this city’s population are Assad’s main supporters.
https://x.com/France24_en/status/1864978459006521726A monitoring organization Syrian Observatory for Human Rights based in the United Kingdom stated that thousands of civilians started to evacuate Homs city on Thursday night in the direction of the government’s strongholds in Tartus and Latakia which is the two Mediterranean coastal districts.The seaside media reported that thousands of residents have started moving there from Homs out of concern for the rebel’s quick march.
Rebels belonging to the anti-government organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) called on Syrian government forces to leave the country in a brief statement that was released on Telegram late Friday. The commander of the rebels added, “Our forces have liberated the last village in the vicinity of the city of Homs and they are now at the city’s walls.”
The rebel sources additionally reported early Saturday that they had taken control of the southern city of Daraa which is close to Jordan after agreeing to allow Syrian army soldiers to travel safely back to the capital Damascus in order to withdraw in a coordinated manner.
It is reported that the rebels had occupied the two cities Talbiseh and Rastan before advancing onto the Homs city. If the rebels capture Homs completely then they would cut off Damascus from the coast which is a stronghold of Assad’s minority Alawite group and where his Russian allies have a naval base and air base.
It is unclear if Russia will be able to support Assad given its continued participation in Ukraine. During a meeting in Doha on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov showed his intentions to discuss Syrian developments with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts.
