Damascus: Syrian rebels have secured complete control over Daraa province on Saturday. Daraa is the third city to come under their control after Aleppo and Hama; Homs and Sweida are on the radar.
Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP that local rebel fighters now controlled all of Daraa province. Rebel commander Hassan Abdel Ghani, with the Islamist-led alliance that launched the offensive in the country’s northwest, said “we are now less than 20 km from the southern gate of the capital Damascus”.
Syrian rebels said they have started to surround government-held Damascus after seizing towns close by on Saturday, as the defence ministry denied the army had fled positions near the capital.
Rebel commander Hassan Abdel Ghani, with the Islamist-led alliance that launched the offensive in the country’s northwest, said “our forces have begun the final phase of encircling the capital, Damascus”. The ministry said “there is no truth to news claiming our armed forces, present in all areas of the Damascus countryside, have withdrawn.”
Earlier, Rami Abdel Rahman who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said “regime forces pulled out of towns in the southwestern Damascus countryside, 10 kilometres from the capital Damascus, which have been seized by local fighters.”
Rebel commander Hassan Abdel Ghani, with the Islamist-led alliance that launched the offensive in the country’s northwest, said that “our forces were able to control the Saasaa (security) branch in the Damascus countryside. The advance towards the capital continues”.
Hezbollah extends a helping hand: A source close to Lebanon’s Hezbollah said Saturday the group sent 2,000 fighters into Syria near the border, as its ally Damascus reels from a rebel offensive that has seized major cities in recent days.
“Hezbollah sent 2,000 fighters to the Qusayr area… to defend its positions there and has not yet participated in any battles” with Syrian rebels, the source told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The rebel coalition in Syria has already seized three of Syria’s main cities, Aleppo in the north, Hama in the centre and Daraa in the south.
On Saturday, rebel forces were at the gates of the key central city of Homs.
The source said Hezbollah sent 150 military advisers to help government forces defend Homs if fighting erupts there.
Diplomats discuss Civil War status: The top diplomats from Iran, Turkey and Russia met in Qatar on Saturday for talks on Syria where rebel forces have taken parts of the country in a lightning offensive.
A foreign ministry statement said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Russian and Turkish counterparts, Sergei Lavrov and Hakan Fidan, for talks on Syria in the Qatari capital Doha.
Army to redeploy troops in Daraa, Sweida: Earlier, the Syrian army had said it was redeploying in two southern provinces on Saturday after a war monitor reported government forces had lost control of most of Dra province, the cradle of the country’s 2011 uprising.
“Our forces operating in Daraa and Sweida are redeploying and repositioning, and establishing a… security cordon in that direction after terrorist elements attacked remote army checkpoints,” the General Command of the Army and Armed Forces said in a statement carried by state media.
The army’s statement said it was “beginning to regain control in Homs and Hama provinces in the face of terrorist organizations”, as rebels who launched a stunning offensive last week, taking key cities Aleppo and Hama, battled troops near Homs.
Liberated by ‘the devil’
Syrians seeking refuge in foreign land keep a close watch on the current developments.
“We’ve been dreaming of this for more than a decade,” said Yazan, a 39-year-old former activist who now lives in France.
Asked whether he was worried about HTS’s Islamist agenda, he said: “It doesn’t matter to me who is conducting this. The devil himself could be behind it. What people care about is who is going to liberate the country.”
On the other side of the sectarian divide, Haidar, 37, who lives in an Alawite-majority neighbourhood, told AFP by telephone that “fear is the umbrella that covers Homs now.”
‘No place for sectarianism’: Syrian rebel commander Hassan Abdel Ghani sought to reassure religious minorities on Saturday after their alliance led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched an offensive last week, capturing key cities and swathes of territory from government control.
After seizing areas where “different religious sects and minorities” live, Abdel Ghani said in a statement on Telegram: “We ask that all sects be reassured… for the era of sectarianism and tyranny has gone away forever.”
“It has become clear to everyone that our forces have proven their discipline on the field under the directives and orders of our leadership,” said Abdel Ghani, who is part of the HTS-led alliance.
Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Observatory, said that government forces had brought “large reinforcements” near Homs city, while Russia and Syria launched strikes and artillery shelling on rebels in the northern Homs countryside.
