By Maya Gebeily, Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Parisa Hafezi
BEIRUT/AMMAN/DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran will send missiles, drones and more advisers to Syria, a senior Iranian official said on Friday, as rebel forces advance toward the central city of Homs and Kurds take over the largest city in the east, shaking the president. Bashar al-Assad's hold on power.
If Islamist insurgents seize Homs in their new blitzkrieg offensive, it would cut off the capital Damascus from the coast, a long-time refuge for Assad's minority Alawite sect and where his Russian allies have a naval base and of an air base.
In another setback for Assad, a U.S.-backed alliance led by Syrian Kurdish fighters took Deri el-Zor, the government's main stronghold in the country's vast eastern desert, three sources told Reuters on Friday Syrians.
It is the third major city, after Aleppo and Hama, in the northwest and center, to escape Assad's control in a week.
Raising pressure, an Iraqi security source said Syrian Kurds were also advancing toward the town of Abu Kamal, on the far eastern edge of Syria's border with Iraq, and could take it within the next 24 hours.
After years stuck behind frozen front lines, rebel forces broke out of their stronghold in northwest Idlib to achieve the fastest advance on the battlefield by either side since an uprising in street against Assad turned into civil war 13 years ago.
Assad regained control of most of Syria after his main allies – Russia, Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah – came to his aid. But all have recently been weakened and sidetracked by other crises, giving Sunni Muslim militants a window to fight back.
The leader of the Syrian faction leading the large-scale assault told CNN that his group – a former al-Qaeda affiliate now known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – aimed to “build Syria” and bring home Syrian refugees from Lebanon and Europe. .
This was Abu Mohammed Al-Golani's first interview since his group began seizing territory from Assad's forces on November 27. The rebels have so far captured two major towns and are now heading towards the key crossroads city of Homs.
HTS split from al-Qaeda in 2016, says it poses no threat to the West and has spent years trying to moderate its image, presenting itself as a viable alternative to the Assad family's 54-year authoritarian rule .
SURPRISE OFFENSIVE
The rebel advance took the region by surprise and emboldened other opponents of Assad. Syrian rebel commander Hassan Abdul Ghany urged top military officials to defect, in a video statement released Friday.
Jordan has closed its only border crossing for passengers and trade with Syria, the Interior Ministry announced on Friday.
Armed groups fired on Syria's Nassib border crossing with Jordan, a Syrian military source told Reuters.
Iran has focused on tensions with its archenemy Israel since the outbreak of war in Gaza in October 2023.
“It is likely that Tehran will have to send military equipment, missiles and drones to Syria… Tehran has taken all necessary measures to increase the number of its military advisers in Syria and deploy forces,” the senior official said Iranian on condition of anonymity.
“Now Tehran is providing intelligence and satellite support to Syria.”
The Israeli military said it was strengthening its air and ground forces in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in southwest Syria and was prepared for all scenarios.
Iran-backed Hezbollah, meanwhile, sent a small number of “supervisory forces” from Lebanon into Syria overnight to help prevent anti-government fighters from seizing Homs, two sources told Reuters Lebanese security forces.
But Israel seriously weakened Hezbollah during fighting in Lebanon this year, assassinating its senior leaders and devastating its military infrastructure.
HTS rebels said they had also taken control of the towns of Talbisa and Rastan, bringing them miles closer to Homs.
The Syrian army said there was no truth in reports that it had withdrawn from Homs, saying in a statement that it was deployed there along “stable and strong defense lines”.
A Homs resident said earlier that the offices of Syria's main security branches had emptied and their members had left the city.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said thousands of people began fleeing Thursday evening from Homs towards the Mediterranean coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus, government strongholds.
A coastal resident said thousands of people had started arriving from Homs, fearing the rebels' rapid advance.
Wasim Marouh, a Homs resident who decided not to leave, said most of the main shopping streets were largely deserted while pro-government militias patrolled the area.
ISLAMIC STATE
In another alarming development for Assad, the leader of the US-backed Syrian Kurdish force said the radical Islamic State group, which imposed a reign of terror across large swaths of Iraq and Syria before its defeat by a US-led coalition in 2017, had now taken control of parts of eastern Syria.
“Due to recent developments, Islamic State mercenaries are increasingly moving into the Syrian desert, south and west of Deir Al-Zor and the al-Raqqa countryside,” said Mazloum Abdi to journalists, referring to areas in eastern Syria. .
Rebels led by HTS sought to capitalize on their rapid capture of Aleppo in the north and Hama in west-central Syria by continuing their drive towards Homs, 40 km to the south.
A rebel operations room urged Homs residents in an online message to rise up, saying: “Your time has come.”
Russian bombing destroyed the Rastan Bridge along the M5 highway, the main route to Homs, overnight to prevent rebels from using it to advance, a Syrian army officer told Reuters.
Government forces were bringing reinforcements around Homs, he added.
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