Rebel forces pushed their offensive in Syria further south on Friday morning, closing in on the central city of Homs as aid groups raised the alarm over escalating conditions for civilians trapped in the fighting .
This comes as the Russian embassy in Damascus also urged its nationals to leave Syria on commercial flights, the official TASS news agency reported.
The day before, pro-government forces were driven out of Hama, Syria's fourth largest city. It gave the insurgents another major victory after a lightning advance in northern Syria, while dealing another blow to President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies.
If rebel groups succeed in seizing Homs, a key crossroads city, they will cut off the Syrian capital Damascus, a long-time refuge for Assad's Alawite minority and home to Russian naval and air bases, from the coast.
“The battle of Homs is the mother of all battles and it will decide who will rule Syria,” said Rami Abdulrahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), an observer of the opposition.
In another setback for Assad, a U.S.-backed alliance led by Syrian Kurdish fighters captured Deir Al-Zor, the government's main stronghold in the country's vast eastern desert, sources told Reuters on Friday .
It is the third major city, after Aleppo and Hama, in the northwest and center, to escape Assad's control in a week.
Damaged military vehicles remained on the roadsides in Hama, Syria, on Friday after Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham rebels captured the city.
The violence has already displaced some 280,000 people since it broke out at the end of November, according to the latest United Nations figures.
“If the situation continues to evolve [at the same] …at this rate, we expect around 1.5 million people to be displaced and will need our support,” said Samer AbdelJaber, head of emergency coordination, strategic analysis and of humanitarian diplomacy of the World Food Program, to journalists in Geneva.
After years stuck behind frozen front lines, insurgents broke out of their stronghold in northwest Idlib to achieve the fastest advance on the battlefield by either side since a street uprising against Assad turned into a civil war 13 years ago.
Rebel fighters led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was listed as a terrorist entity by Canada since 2013declared that they had taken the towns of Talbiseh and Rastan. The group, which split from al-Qaeda in 2016, says it poses no threat to the West and has spent years trying to do so. moderate your image, presenting itself as a viable alternative to Assad.
Children “pay the heaviest price”
Save the Children Syria is sounding the alarm about the suffering suffered by children caught in the fighting, who were already reeling from the effects of 13 years of war, the ensuing humanitarian and economic crises and a devastating situation . earthquake which affected almost 40 percent of its population.
The UK-based organization said at least 69 civilians, including 26 children and 11 women, were killed in northwest Syria in the past week. At least 228 other people were reported injured, including 88 children and 53 women.
Rasha Muhrez, Save the Children's response director in Syria, said she had received reports that families fleeing fighting, with nowhere to go, were sleeping on the streets for several days. Muhrez said some schools have been turned into shelters but cannot accommodate enough people.
“It's winter, it's the middle of the school year…At the end of the day, it's the children who pay the heaviest price,” Muhrez told CBC News on Friday from Amman, in Jordan.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres says that after years of conflict in Syria, it is “high time” for all parties to seriously engage and chart a path forward to resolve the long-running crisis. duration.
Some 120 schools in the northeastern city of Raqqa are being used to accommodate 35,000 people, according to the organization.
Aid agencies say they had raised less than a third of the $4 billion needed to run programs in 2024 before fighting began last week.
Earlier this month, the UN humanitarian office said it had had to cut food rations Syria up to 80 percent due to lack of funds.
“The situation in Syria was not easy before this escalation, so we are facing a crisis on top of a crisis. And that is why we are really emphasizing the urgent need for financing,” AbdelJaber said.
Jordan closes its border with Syria
On Friday, Jordan also closed its only border crossing for passengers and trade with Syria, known as the Jaber crossing, the Jordanian Interior Ministry announced. Jordanians and Jordanian trucks would be allowed to return through the crossing, on the Jordanian side, but no one would be allowed to enter Syria.
A Syrian army source told Reuters that armed groups that infiltrated the crossing attacked Syrian army posts stationed on the Nassib border with Jordan.
Muhrez said the border closure will likely have a big impact, although it's unclear how it will affect the delivery of specific aid. She added that the crossing was essential for delivering aid and humanitarian assistance to Syria and Lebanon.
Homs empties as residents flee
A Homs resident said the offices of Syria's main security branches emptied Friday morning and their members left the city.
The SOHR said thousands of people began fleeing Homs on Thursday evening, heading towards the Mediterranean coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus.
Wasim Marouh, a Homs resident who decided not to leave, said most of the main shopping streets were empty while pro-government militias patrolled the streets.
A rebel operations room, meanwhile, urged Homs residents in an online message to rise up, declaring: “Your time has come.”
Syrian rebels have captured the town of Hama, a major victory in their advance into northern Syria and another devastating blow to President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies.
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. adding that government forces were bringing reinforcements around Homs.
Assad relied heavily on Russian and Iranian military support during the most intense years of the civil war, helping him recover most of Syria's territory and largest cities before the front lines hardened in 2020 .
But Russia has been focused on its invasion of Ukraine since 2022. And many leaders of Hezbollah, the most powerful Iran-aligned militia, have been killed by Israel in the past two months.
A senior Iranian official said Tehran will likely need to send military equipment, missiles and drones to Syria, in addition to sending more advisers and deploying forces. He said Tehran was currently providing intelligence and satellite support.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, sent a small number of “supervisory forces” from Lebanon to Syria overnight to help prevent anti-government fighters from seizing Homs, two Lebanese security sources told Reuters.
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