Insurgent forces in Syria mentioned they have been advancing into the capital Damascus after capturing 4 different cities prior to now 24 hours as a lightning advance by insurgents continued, threatening President Bashar al-Assad’s grip on energy.
Within the early hours of Sunday morning native time, the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, mentioned on the Telegram messaging app, that insurgent forces had entered Damascus and reached Sednaya jail, a authorities facility dubbed the “human slaughterhouse” by the human rights group Amnesty Worldwide.
“Our forces have begun getting into the capital Damascus,” the group mentioned in a single message. In a follow-up assertion, the group mentioned it was “the tip of the period of injustice of Sednaya jail.”
Earlier, the group claimed it had taken management of the town of Homs, within the north-central a part of the nation on Saturday.
HTS chief Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani launched a video claiming that authorities forces withdrew with out a combat there, and the insurgent group later launched an announcement, “Our eyes are watching the capital, Damascus.”
Anti authorities forces experience previous a Syrian regime navy automobile overturned on the street, after insurgent took management of the central Hama governorate, on December 7, 2024.
Omar Haj Kadour/AFP through Getty Photos
Total, the rebel group claimed credit score for taking three different Syrian cities over the previous day — together with Daraa, Queinetra and Sweida — in a sequence of fast advances by opposition fighters which have largely been met with little resistance from authorities forces.
All through the day Saturday, because the insurgent forces have been on the transfer, the Syrian military withdrew from a lot of southern Syria, leaving extra areas of the nation, together with two provincial capitals, beneath the management of the rebels, in line with the navy and an opposition battle monitor.
In an announcement launched earlier Saturday, the Syrian authorities was pressured to disclaim Assad had fled the nation, issuing an announcement calling media reviews on the contrary “rumors and false information.”
U.S. intelligence had been getting ready for Assad’s entrance line to break down beneath the press of insurgent forces, and the U.S. had intelligence that Assad’s household had left the nation for Moscow.
Armed rebels have a good time their advances in Hama, Syria, by firing pictures into the air on December 6, 2024. Rebels led by HTS have intensified their offensive, seizing management of key areas in Aleppo and Hama and pushing additional in the direction of Homs, sparking widespread displacement and heightened instability in west-central Syria.
Bilal Alhammoud/Center East Photos/AFP through Getty
Earlier this week, authorities forces withdrew from Hama, Syria’s fourth largest metropolis, which sits between the capital Damascus to the south and Aleppo — Syria’s second metropolis — to the north.
Aleppo fell to the lightning insurgent offensive on Nov. 29. Hama was one of many few main cities that didn’t fall to anti-government forces following the unsuccessful 2011 revolution towards Assad’s rule.
The insurgent offensive is being waged by HTS, and a set of Turkish-backed Syrian militias often known as the Syrian Nationwide Military. HTS, which has its roots in al-Qaida, is taken into account a terrorist group by the U.S.
President-elect Donald Trump weighed in on the developments within the Syrian civil battle on his social media platform Fact Social on Saturday and mentioned the U.S. ought to keep out of the matter solely.
A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is pictured with its body damaged, in a Syrian regime’s Political Safety Department facility on the outskirts of the central metropolis of Hama, following the seize of the world by anti-government forces, on December 7, 2024.
Omar Haj Kadour/AFP through Getty Photos
“Syria is a multitude, however will not be our buddy, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!” Trump posted.
Within the put up, Trump famous that Russia, which has lengthy supported Assad’s regime, is “tied up in Ukraine” and apparently unable to intervene in Syria. Trump mentioned Assad being pressured out “may very well be one of the best factor that may occur” to the Russian authorities.
In the meantime earlier Saturday, Russian International Minister Sergey Lavrov commented on the insurgent offensive in Syria, saying Russia would oppose it “in each method doable” however Russia “will actively promote the necessity to resume dialogue with the opposition,” which means between the federal government and the rebels.
“This can be a exceptional sequence of developments,” Javed Ali, affiliate professor on the College of Michigan’s Ford Faculty of Public Coverage, described the insurgent advances, throughout an look on ABC Information Dwell.
He referred to as it a “catastrophic loss” to Iran, which has lengthy supported the Assad regime and a “black mark” for the Russian authorities, which has additionally propped up Assad.
Citing media reviews, each international locations seem to have pulled advisers and gear overseas, Ali mentioned.
“If these withdrawals proceed, each on the Iranian and the Russian facet, it is solely principally the Syrian navy and safety forces left,” he mentioned. “And very like we noticed in Afghanistan in 2021, they’re most likely not going to have the ability to maintain again towards HTS and all the opposite insurgent teams which are on the outskirts of Damascus proper now.”
