Syrian rebels take Homs, advance into Damascus as Hezbollah ousted from key border city

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A stunning march across Syria by insurgent rebels accelerated Saturday with news that they had reached the gates of the capital Damascus after capturing a key central city of Homs, sending government forces and fighters from the Iran-backed Hezbollah into a hasty retreat. In a sign of the regime’s tenuous grip on power, the government was forced to deny rumors that President Bashar al-Assad had fled the country.

The loss of Homs was a potentially crippling blow for Assad. It stands at an important intersection between Damascus, the capital, and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus — the Syrian leader’s base of support and home to a strategic Russian naval base.

South of Homs, rebels also captured the smaller city of al-Qusayr, which had been held by the Iran-backed Hezbollah since the terror group captured it while fighting in support of Assad. The city sits next to a border crossing with Lebanon considered to be a major smuggling route used by Hezbollah to bring in Iranian arms, with Israel allegedly carrying out a number of strikes in the area, including one late last week.

Hezbollah, still smarting after two months of punishing attacks by Israel that wiped out much of the group’s leadership and arsenal, withdrew from al-Qusayr before rebel forces seized it, Syrian army sources said on Sunday.

At least 150 armored vehicles carrying hundreds of Hezbollah fighters left the city, the sources said. Israel bombed one of the convoys as it was departing, one source said.

There was no comment from Jerusalem. In a statement late Thursday, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Israel “is not intervening in the internal conflict in Syria.”

The statement came after the army said it would bolster its troop presence along the Syrian border with the Golan Heights as rebel groups moved in on the area. The Israel Defense Forces also said it was helping United Nations peacekeepers on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights repel an attack by gunmen near the town of Hader, close to the Israeli border.

The loss of a foothold in Syria would mark a major blow to Hezbollah, which has relied on the country as a main conduit to Iran. Both Tehran and Hezbollah, together with Russia, were key allies that helped Syrian President Bashar al-Assad repel earlier rebel advances, but all three have hesitated to answer Assad’s pleas for help beating back the insurgents.

A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that the organization’s fighters had been told to abandon posts in and around Homs and outside Damascus as well. Some were sent back to Lebanon, while other redeployed to Latakia, which Assad is widely expected to attempt to hold on to.

In Homs, the insurgency announced late Saturday that it had taken over the city. The city’s capture was a major victory for the rebels, who have already seized the cities of Aleppo and Hama, as well as large parts of the south, in a lightning offensive that began November 27. Analysts said rebel control of Homs would be a game-changer.

The pro-government Sham FM news outlet reported that government forces took positions outside Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, without elaborating. Rami Abdurrahman who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Syrian troops and members of different security agencies withdrew from the city.

Thousands of Homs residents poured onto the streets after the army withdrew from the central city, dancing and chanting “Assad is gone, Homs is free” and “Long live Syria and down with Bashar al-Assad.”

Rebels fired into the air in celebration, and youths tore down posters of the Syrian president, whose territorial control has collapsed in a dizzying week-long retreat by the military.

The fall of Homs gives the insurgents control over Syria’s strategic heartland and a key highway crossroads, severing Damascus from the coastal region that is the stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect and where his Russian allies have a naval base and air base.

Homs’ capture is also a powerful symbol of the rebel movement’s dramatic comeback in the 13-year-old conflict. Swathes of Homs were destroyed by gruelling siege warfare between the rebels and the army years ago. The fighting ground down the insurgents, who were forced out.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the main rebel leader, called the capture of Homs a historic moment and urged fighters not to harm “those who drop their arms”.

Rebels freed thousands of detainees from the city prison. Security forces left in haste after burning their documents.

Residents of numerous Damascus districts meanwhile turned out to protest Assad on Saturday evening, and security forces were either unwilling or unable to clamp down.

Rebels later reported entering the capital’s outskirts and facing no resistance from regime forces.

It was the first time that opposition forces reached the outskirts of Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured the area following a yearslong siege. The UN said it was moving noncritical staff outside the country as a precaution.

People in the capital rushed to stock up on supplies. Thousands went to Syria’s border with Lebanon, trying to leave the country.

Many shops in the capital were shuttered, a resident told The Associated Press, and those still open ran out of staples such as sugar. Some were selling items at three times the normal price.

“The situation is very strange. We are not used to that,” the resident said, insisting on anonymity, fearing retributions. “People are worried whether there will be a battle (in Damascus) or not.”

The UN’s special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, called Saturday for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition.” Speaking to reporters at the annual Doha Forum in Qatar, he said the situation in Syria was changing by the minute. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose country is Assad’s chief international backer, said he feels “sorry for the Syrian people.”

Pedersen said a date for talks in Geneva on the implementation of a UN resolution, adopted in 2015 and calling for a Syrian-led political process, would be announced later. The resolution calls for the establishment of a transitional governing body, followed by the drafting of a new constitution and ending with U.N.-supervised elections.

Later Saturday, foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran, along with Pederson, gathered on the sidelines of the Doha Summit to discuss the situation in Syria.

In a statement, the participants affirmed their support for a political solution to the Syrian crisis “that would lead to the end of military activity and protect civilians.” They also agreed on the importance of strengthening international efforts to increase aid to the Syrian people.

US President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday posted on social media that the United States should avoid engaging militarily in Syria. Separately, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser said the Biden administration had no intention of intervening there.

The shock offensive began Nov. 27, during which gunmen captured the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest, and the central city of Hama, the country’s fourth-largest city.

HTS controls much of northwest Syria and in 2017 set up a “salvation government” to run day-to-day affairs in the region. In recent years, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to remake the group’s image, cutting ties with al-Qaeda, ditching hard-line officials and vowing to embrace pluralism and religious tolerance.

Opposition activists said Saturday that a day earlier, insurgents entered Palmyra, which is home to invaluable archaeological sites had been in government hands since being taken from the Islamic State group in 2017.

To the south, Syrian troops left much of the province of Quneitra, including the main Baath city near the border with Israel, activists said.

The Syrian army said in a statement that it carried out redeployment and repositioning in Sweida and Daraa after its checkpoints came under attack by “terrorists.” The army said it was setting up a “strong and coherent defensive and security belt in the area,” apparently to defend Damascus from the south.

The Syrian government has referred to opposition gunmen as terrorists since conflict broke out in March 2011.

Meeting in Qatar, the foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey called for an end to the hostilities. Turkey is a main backer of the rebels.

Qatar’s top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to take advantage of the lull in fighting in recent years to address the country’s underlying problems.

“Assad didn’t seize this opportunity to start engaging and restoring his relationship with his people,” he said.