Less than a week after their offensive, Islamist rebel forces are reportedly at the gate of Damascus and have begun encircling the Assad regime-controlled Syrian capital.
“Rebel forces said they are about 12 miles away from the Syrian capital Damascus as they continue a lightening offensive that has seen them seize control from government forces in multiple cities,” the Franc24 TV channel reported Saturday. “A Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) commander said rebels had begun to encircle the Syrian capital.”
According to Iraqi official sources, forces loyal to the Assad regime were abandoning positions in the face of rapid rebel advance.”The soldiers from President Bashar al-Assad’s armed forces “have fled the front lines” and entered Iraq through the Al-Qaim border crossing, said one senior security official, adding that “the wounded have been hospitalised” in the area,” the French state broadcaster added.
Iran and Russia-backed Syria regime, which controlled two-thirds of the country, was rapidly losing hold over key cities and province less a week into the rebel offensive led by Turkey-backed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Islamist group.
“Since the rebels’ sweep into Aleppo a week ago, government defences have crumbled across the country at dizzying speed as insurgents seized a string of major cities,” the Reuters reported Saturday. “Meanwhile the rebels extended their control to almost the entire southwest and said they had captured Sanamayn on the main highway from Damascus to Jordan.”
Some Assad regime troops reportedly fled to neighboring Iraq amid rebel offensive. “Around 2,000 Syrian troops have crossed the border into Iraq and sought refuge, Turki Al-Mahlawi, the mayor of Al-Qaim border town [said],” the British newspaper Telegraph reported Saturday. “Some of the troops were wounded and are currently receiving medical treatment, he added.”
Iran, too, appears to be abandoning Assad, the tyrants it supported militarily since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011. According to The New York Times, “Iran began to evacuate its military commanders and personnel from Syria on Friday, according to regional officials and three Iranian officials, in a sign of Iran’s inability to help keep President Bashar al-Assad in power as he faces a resurgent rebel offensive.”
Tehran was pulling out Islamic Guard (IRGC) terror operatives it had deployed to a direct terrorist campaign against Israel.
“Among those evacuated to neighboring Iraq and Lebanon were top commanders of Iran’s powerful Quds Forces, the external branch of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, the officials said,” the NYT added.
With Assad’s Syrian Arab Army was retreating from southern Syria, the Islamist forces were gaining ground in the area, bringing them closer to the border with Israel.
“The Syrian army withdrew from much of southern Syria on Saturday, leaving more areas of the country, including two provincial capitals, under the control of opposition fighters, the military and an opposition war monitor said,” the Associated Press reported. “The redeployment away from the provinces of Daraa and Sweida came as Syria’s military sent large numbers of reinforcements to defend the key central city of Homs, Syria’s third largest, as insurgents approached its outskirts.”
Amid Rebel advance, Israel was bolstering military presence along the border with Syria. “IDF deploying extra forces to Golan Heights as rebel forces make advances in Syria,” the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Friday.
The Israeli military is supporting UN troops stationed access to the border in Syria after they came under attack from armed gunmen amid ongoing clashes between Islamic rebels and pro-Assad forces, the IDF disclosed Saturday evening.
” A short while ago, an attack was carried out by armed individuals at a UN post in the Hader area in Syria,” the IDF said in statement press release. “The IDF is currently assisting the UN forces in repelling the attack.”
“The IDF is deployed with reinforced forces in the Golan Heights area and will continue to operate in order to protect the State of Israel and its citizens,” the military assured.
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