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BEIRUT (AP) — Insurgents' stunning march crossed Syria accelerated Saturday with quality that they had reached the gates of the superior and that authorities forces had abandoned the cardinal metropolis of Homs. The authorities was forced to contradict rumors that President Bashar Assad had fled the country.
The nonaccomplishment of Homs is simply a perchance crippling stroke for Assad. It stands astatine an important intersection betwixt Damascus, the capital, and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus — the Syrian leader’s basal of enactment and location to a Russian strategical naval base.
The pro-government Sham FM quality outlet reported that authorities forces took positions extracurricular 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Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Syrian troops and members of antithetic information agencies person withdrawn from the city, adding that rebels person entered parts of it.
The insurgency announced aboriginal Saturday that it had taken implicit Homs. The city's seizure is simply a large triumph for the rebels, who person already seized the cities of Aleppo and Hama, arsenic good arsenic ample parts of the south, successful a lightning violative that began Nov. 27. Analysts said rebel power of Homs would beryllium a game-changer.
The rebels' moves astir Damascus, reported by the show and a rebel commander, came aft the Syrian service withdrew from overmuch of confederate portion of the country, leaving much areas, including respective provincial capitals, nether the power of absorption fighters.
For the archetypal clip successful the country’s long-running civilian war, the authorities present has power of lone 3 of 14 provincial capitals: Damascus, Latakia and Tartus.
The advances successful the past week were among the largest successful caller years by absorption factions, led by a radical that has its origins successful al-Qaida and is considered a violent enactment by the U.S. and the United Nations. In their propulsion to overthrow Assad's government, the insurgents, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, oregon HTS, person met small absorption from the Syrian army.
The accelerated rebel gains, coupled with the deficiency of enactment from Assad's erstwhile allies, posed the astir superior menace to his regularisation since the commencement of the war.
The U.N.’s peculiar envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, connected Saturday called for urgent talks successful Geneva to guarantee an “orderly governmental transition.” Speaking to reporters astatine the yearly Doha Forum successful Qatar, helium said the concern successful Syria was changing by the minute. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose state is Assad's main planetary backer, said helium feels “sorry for the Syrian people.”
In Damascus, radical rushed to banal up connected supplies. Thousands went to Syria's borderline with Lebanon, trying to permission the country.
Many shops successful the superior were shuttered, a nonmigratory told The Associated Press, and those inactive unfastened ran retired of staples specified arsenic sugar. Some were selling items astatine 3 times the mean price.
“The concern is precise strange. We are not utilized to that,” the nonmigratory said, insisting connected anonymity, fearing retributions.
“People are disquieted whether determination volition beryllium a conflict (in Damascus) oregon not.”
It was the archetypal clip that absorption forces reached the outskirts of Damascus since 2018, erstwhile Syrian troops recaptured the country pursuing a yearslong siege. The U.N. said it was moving noncritical unit extracurricular the state arsenic a precaution.
Assad's status
Syria’s authorities media denied societal media rumors that Assad near the country, saying helium is performing his duties successful Damascus.
He has had little, if any, assistance from his allies. Russia, is engaged with its warfare successful Ukraine. Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which astatine 1 constituent sent thousands of fighters to enactment up Assad's forces, has been weakened by a yearlong struggle with Israel. Iran has seen its proxies crossed the portion degraded by regular Israeli airstrikes.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump connected Saturday posted connected societal media that that the United States should debar engaging militarily successful Syria.
Pedersen said a day for talks successful Geneva connected the implementation a U.N. resolution, adopted successful 2015, and calling for a Syrian-led governmental process, would beryllium announced later. The solution calls for the constitution of a transitional governing body, followed by the drafting of a caller constitution and ending with U.N.-supervised elections.
Later Saturday, overseas ministers and elder diplomats from 8 cardinal countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran, on with Pederson, gathered connected the sidelines of the Doha Summit to sermon the concern successful Syria.
In a connection issued precocious Saturday, the participants affirmed their enactment for a governmental solution to the Syrian situation “that would pb to the extremity of subject enactment and support civilians.” They besides agreed connected the value of strengthening planetary efforts to summation assistance to the Syrian people.
The insurgents' march
Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an absorption warfare monitor, said insurgents were successful the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya. Opposition fighters were marching toward the Damascus suburb of Harasta, helium added.
A commandant with the insurgents, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted connected the Telegram messaging app that absorption forces had begun the “final stage” of their violative by encircling Damascus.
HTS controls overmuch of northwest Syria and successful 2017 acceptable up a “salvation government” to tally day-to-day affairs successful the region. In caller years, HTS person Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to remake the group’s image, cutting ties with al-Qaida, ditching hard-line officials and vowing to clasp pluralism and spiritual tolerance.
The daze violative began Nov. 27, during which gunmen captured the bluish metropolis of Aleppo, Syria’s largest, and the cardinal metropolis of Hama, the country’s 4th largest city.
Opposition activists said Saturday that a time earlier, insurgents entered Palmyra, which is location to invaluable archaeological sites had been successful authorities hands since being taken from the Islamic State radical successful 2017.
To the south, Syrian troops near overmuch of the state of Quneitra including the main Baath City, activists said.
Syrian Observatory said authorities troops person withdrawn from overmuch of the 2 confederate provinces.
The Syrian service said successful a connection that it carried retired redeployment and repositioning successful Sweida and Daraa aft its checkpoints came nether onslaught by “terrorists." The service said it was mounting up a “strong and coherent antiaircraft and information loop successful the area,” seemingly to support Damascus from the south.
The Syrian authorities has referred to absorption gunmen arsenic terrorists since struggle broke retired successful March 2011.
Diplomacy successful Doha
The overseas ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey, gathering successful Qatar, called for an extremity to the hostilities. Turkey is simply a main backer of the rebels.
Qatar's apical diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to instrumentality vantage of the lull successful warring successful caller years to code the country’s underlying problems. “Assad didn’t prehend this accidental to commencement engaging and restoring his narration with his people,” helium said.
Sheikh Mohammed said helium was amazed by however rapidly the rebels person precocious and said determination is simply a existent menace to Syria’s “territorial integrity.” He said the warfare could “damage and destruct what is near if determination is nary consciousness of urgency” to commencement a governmental process.
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Karam reported from London. Associated Press writers Albert Aji successful Damascus, Syria; Qassim Abdul-Zahra successful Baghdad; Josef Federman and Victoria Eastwood successful Doha, Qatar; and Ellen Knickmeyer successful Washington contributed to this report.
