Syrian rebels remove regime flag from monument
Video posted by pro-opposition media in Syria shows militants in Aleppo’s western suburbs removing the Syrian national flag from a monument.
Syrian rebels overtook the western city of Hama, their second major victory since they swept Aleppo last week, as thousands fled the city of Homs ahead of the Islamist insurgents.
The rebel group, called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, had advanced to the countryside around 3 miles north of Homs, Syria’s third largest city, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor. They brought several pickup trucks equipped with heavy machine guns from Hama, which fell on Thursday, according to the monitor.
Thousands of residents packed into cars trying to leave the city before the rebel takeover jammed roadways, citizens told Reuters. Only a few groceries remained open and commercial city streets were empty except for roving pro-government militias, Wasim Marouh, a resident who decided to stay, told the outlet.
“Your time has come,” the rebel group wrote in a social media post to residents of Homs.
Russian forces destroyed an important bridge to Homs with at least eight strikes overnight in a last-ditch attempt to slow the rebels, a Syrian officer told Reuters. Government soldiers reinforced positions around the city, he said.
Syrian civil war reemerges
HTS’ rise marks the sudden resurgence of Syria’s civil war, dormant for years after a 2020 cease-fire between Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Turkey, which backs his opposition, brought a pause to the fighting.
Now, the two nations, along with Iran, are set to meet in Doha on Saturday to discuss the volatile situation in Syria, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters.
Turkey has denied supporting the current rebel offensive. But Iran, which backs the government, plans to send missiles, drones, and military advisers to aid Assad, and is already providing him with intelligence and satellite support, a senior Iranian official told Reuters.
The rebel advance came after Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant movement, was severely weakend by Israeli forces amid the ongoing war in Gaza. Hezbollah, along with Russia and Iran, has been key to propping up Assad.
The U.S., which backed some rebel groups opposed to the government earlier in the conflict, “has no role in what’s happening right now,” although it is “monitoring the situation closely,” Pentagon press secretary Gen. Pat Ryder said at a news briefing Thursday.
The U.S. has around 900 troops in Syria’s east and northeast for a mission to secure the “enduring defeat of ISIS,” the Islamic State Group, and has partnered with the Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of Kurdish fighters, for that purpose, according to Ryder.
The Syrian civil war exploded in 2011 amid Assad’s violent crackdown on an Arab Spring uprising against his rule. Since then, hundreds of thousands have died in the conflict and millions have fled overseas.
Contributing: Reuters