The Assad regime and the residents of Homs in central Syria are panicking over the advance of the jihadists.
Last night, tens of thousands of Homs residents, especially members of the Alevi community, to which President Assad belongs, were fleeing westwards towards the coast, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, after the occupation from the jihadists and rebels who have allied with them of the strategic importance of Hama a short distance away.
South of Aleppo, Syria's second largest urban center, Hama oversees the road to Homs, about forty kilometers away, and Damascus, two major cities that remain in government hands.
Syria: Russian fighters bombed a bridge connecting Hama to Homs
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported repeated airstrikes against Ar Rastan, a strategically important bridge on the Hama-Homs highway, as part of an effort to slow down the advance of anti-regime forces.
The anti-regime fighters, spearheaded by the jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, al-Qaeda's former Syrian arm), launched a surprise attack on November 27 from their last stronghold, Idlib in northwestern Syria, and captured dozens of communities, in a great majority of them in his provinces Aleppo and Hama (central). More than 800 people have been killed in the hostilities, according to the NGO.
"Regular deployment of government forces by Hama," says the Assad regime
Syrian Defense Minister Ali Abbas assured yesterday that the withdrawal of government forces from Hama is only a "temporary tactical measure" and that they remain "close to the city".
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, "fighter jets carried out several airstrikes against the Rastan Bridge on the Homs-Hama highway (…) in an effort to cut off the road between Hama and Homs and guarantee the security of Homs."
In addition, "regime forces moved into Homs more than 200 military vehicles carrying weapons and material to reinforce their positions," according to the NGO, which is based in Britain and relies on a wide network of sources in Syrian territory.
Fear in Homs of the jihadist advance
Residents of Homs, Syria's third largest city, have made no secret of their fear that the anti-regime rebels will advance and take over their city.
The city is "plagued by fear," Haidar, a resident of an Alevi neighborhood in Homs, told AFP by phone that he wants to leave as soon as possible for Tartous, an Alevi stronghold on the west coast, where he has already sent his parents.
Celebrations in Hama
After the rebels entered Hama, some residents took to the streets to cheer them, according to AFP footage. Some of them set fire to a giant portrait of the Syrian president hanging in a municipal building.
Rebels were shooting in the air, some were kneeling and praying, while a body lay in the street.
The anti-regime alliance announced via Telegram the "complete liberation" of the city and that they had taken "hundreds of prisoners" out of the central prison.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, "more than 200 military vehicles" left Hama for Homs.
At least 826 dead in Syria since civil war broke out, tens of thousands displaced
The hostilities are the first of this magnitude since 2020 in the country, where a devastating civil war has killed more than half a million people and led to its division into zones of influence, where the warring parties are backed by various foreign powers.
Since November 27, fighting and shelling have killed at least 826 people, including 111 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Of that total, 222 combatants have been killed since Tuesday in hostilities around Hama, the NGO noted.
The UN speaks of 115.000 displaced people in one week.
Its Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, called for an end to the "carnage" in Syria, a result of what he says is a "chronic collective failure" to find a political solution.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — his country is a key backer of some rebel groups — called on Assad, who is backed by Russia and Iran, to "urgently" find a way to reach a "political solution."
Moscow and Hezbollah on Assad's side
After the rebel offensive was launched, the Russian armed forces, which have bases in Syrian territory, launched airstrikes against sectors controlled by them to support government troops.
It was mainly thanks to the military support of Moscow and Tehran that in 2015 Damascus launched a counter-offensive, gradually regaining control of most of the country and in 2016 full control of Aleppo, part of which had been in the hands of anti-regime forces since 2012.
The Lebanese Hezbollah movement, weakened after more than a year of hostilities and two months of open war with Israel, reaffirmed yesterday that it would stand by Assad.
Jihadists warn Iraq not to get involved in civil war in Syria
For his part, the head of the HTS, Ahmed al-Shareh, better known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Julani, urged Iraq not to get involved in the war.
In Aleppo, a large city in the north, police and military were forming queues to join the anti-regime ranks, as reported by APE-MPE. The head of the HTS promised that his men would not take "revenge" in Hama, where he said his fighters entered to "re-close the wound that was opened 40 years ago".
Hama was the scene of a massacre carried out by the military in 1982, during the days of Hafez al-Assad — the father of current president Bashar al-Assad — in power, to quell a Muslim Brotherhood insurgency.
Source: iefimerida.gr
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