Syrian rebels announced their approach to the strategic city of Homs, while the government army announced an attack that caused heavy damage to the enemy.
“Our forces have controlled the last village on the outskirts of Homs city and are close to this urban area,” the rebel group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) said on December 6, while demanding asked forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Homs to desert and emphasized that this was the “final call”.
Syrian media said the army was conducting an operation in the countryside in Homs province with the support of Russian forces, killing dozens of rebels.
Video posted on social networks on December 6 shows the Russian air force attacking a key bridge between the cities of Hama and Homs. The attack caused a hole in the bridge surface but did not collapse.
A column of smoke rises after a Russian air strike on the bridge between Hama and Homs in a video posted on December 6. Video: Telegram/RVvoenkor
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that thousands of people began fleeing the city of Homs on the night of December 5 to Latakia and Tartus, localities bordering the Mediterranean and strongholds of the Syrian government. Syrian government. People living in the coastal area confirmed that many people from Homs are coming here.
Rebel sources said on the morning of December 7 that they had captured the southern city of Daraa near the border with Jordan, after reaching an agreement allowing army soldiers to withdraw from the city and move to Damascus quickly. safe.
Three Syrian sources said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had captured Deir el-Zor, the government’s main stronghold in the vast desert region of the east of the country. If confirmed, it would be the third important town Assad’s forces have lost in a week, after Aleppo in the northwest and Hama in the center.
If Homs falls into the hands of HTS forces and their allies, the Syrian war situation could change significantly. Syria’s third largest city is a connecting point for a series of densely populated areas, has one of the two most important oil refineries in the country and is a strategic gateway to the capital Damascus.
Capturing Homs also helps rebels cut off the route from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast, a stronghold of Mr. Assad’s Aliwate minority community and home to Russian military bases.
Sources from the Syrian army said that if they attack from the north of Homs, the rebels will face the armed group Hezbollah, which is stationed here to reinforce the defense line for government troops.
Since launching the new campaign last week, HTS and its allies have made major advances in northern Syria, taking control of Aleppo, the country’s second largest city, and Hama, the country’s largest metropolis. Wednesday. This is the first time the Assad regime has lost Aleppo and Hama since the beginning of the civil war.
Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of HTS, said the rebel group’s goal when launching the campaign was to overthrow President Assad’s government and make foreign forces leave Syria.