Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of the Islamist group leading the rebel offensive in Syria, promised safety for any members of the Syrian army who turned themselves over to the rebels.
There were reports earlier on Saturday of soldiers changing into civilian clothes and deserting their posts.
The Syrian government is launching a determined and public defense of its presence across the country, with a spokesperson releasing a statement that it was reinforcing lines across the Damascus countryside in order to guard against “terrorists”.
There were additional signs of a collapse in government forces in the east, with around 2,000 Syrian soldiers reported to have crossed the border into Iraq to seek sanctuary, according to the mayor of Iraqi border town al-Qaem.
‘We are on the doorstep of Homs and Damascus’
The leader of the Islamist group mounting the rebel offensive in Syria has said they are on the brink of capturing two strategically key cities.
Abu Mohammad al-Jolani posted on messaging app Telegram: “We are now on the doorstep of Homs and Damascus, and the toppling of the criminal regime is near.”
His group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations and is a former Al-Qaeda affiliate.
Damascus ‘falling suburb by suburb’ to rebels, says US official
An unnamed US official told CBS News that Damascus appears to be “falling suburb by suburb” to the rebels.
According to reports, rebels are now active in the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya, claiming to have made it to the gates of the capital city.
The US-based Syrian Emergency Task Force, which is supportive of rebel forces, told CBS that the Syrian capital “will fall quickly” and that the city is effectively surrounded.
The unnamed US official told CBS News that the rebels were getting closer to Damascus as they took the suburbs
GHAITH ALSAYED/AP
An insurgent commander, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on messaging app Telegram that its forces were carrying out the “final stage” of their offensive by encircling Damascus.
Syrian government officials, meanwhile, insist that they have surrounded the city with reinforcements, establishing a “strong security and military cordon” which cannot be penetrated.
Rebels will ‘protect and preserve institutions serving the people’
Syrian rebels say they will protect governmental, international and United Nations offices in the country.
Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former Al-Qaeda affiliate, said it has a duty to protect “institutions serving the people”.
It said in a statement: “We affirm that all government institutions, international organisations and United Nations offices operating on our land are institutions serving the people, and we have a duty to protect and preserve them, and even ensure the continuity of their work.”
The groups said it is their “responsibility and commitment to protect the interests of our people.”
The Halo Trust, a UK charity, told the Sunday Times that it will be clearing landmines in northwestern Syria over the coming days. “It’s imperative we stay and get access to places we’ve previously not been able to,” said a spokesman.
President Assad ‘still in Damascus’, says government
The Syrian government insists that President Bashar al-Assad remains in the country.
“Some foreign media outlets are spreading rumors and false news about President Bashar al-Assad leaving Damascus, or making quick visits to another country,” the presidency said in a statement.
“The president is following up on his work and national and constitutional duties from the capital, Damascus.”
Syrian anti-regime forces close to recapturing Damascus
The news comes after demonstrators toppled a statue of President Assad’s father on Saturday afternoon in a suburb just south of Damascus.
Rush on food supplies as threat of takeover looms
There was a rush on food and supplies in the Syrian capital of Damascus, with many shops being shuttered and others running out of goods, as the threat of a rebel takeover becomes more acute.
According to the Associated Press, some shops had run out of supplies entirely, with others selling products for three times the normal price.
It is the first time rebel forces have reached the suburbs of Damascus since 2018, when the Syrian army recaptured the city after a year-long siege.
Thousands of civilians rushed to the Syrian border with Lebanon in an attempt to flee the country, it was reported.
Syrian army ‘reinforcing’ defence around Damascus
The Syrian army said it was further strengthening its defence around Damascus, in the face of rapidly advancing rebel forces.
“Our armed units are reinforcing their lines throughout the Damascus countryside and the southern region,” a spokesman for the General Command of the Army and Armed Forces said in a televised statement.
Rebels in Hama, north of Damascus
MOHAMMED AL RIFAI/EPA
It also said it was launching military operations against rebels in the Hama and Homs countryside, around the key city, and in the northern Daraa countryside.
This further bolsters public statements by the country’s interior minister, who earlier said the army had implemented an impenetrable “security and military cordon” on the far edges of the capital city.
Can Assad hang on? Shifting alliances will decide Syria’s fate
The Syrian president can count on support from Russia and Iran, but Turkey has hardened its view against the regime, writes Samer al-Atrush.
• Read in full: Can Assad hang on? Shifting alliances will decide Syria’s fate
Syrian government sets up ‘very strong security and military cordon’
The Syrian government has claimed they have implemented a security cordon around Damascus, as rebel forces rapidly make their way closer to the capital city.
Mohammad Khaled al-Rahmoun, Syria’s interior minister, said on state television: “There is a very strong security and military cordon on the far edges of Damascus and its countryside, and no one … can penetrate this defensive line that we, the armed forces, are building.”
According to reports, rebels are at the gates of Damascus, with its militia having infiltrated the city’s suburbs.
Russia doing ‘everything not to allow terrorists to prevail’
Russia is attempting to do “everything” it can to prevent rebel forces advancing in Syria.
Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister, said on Saturday: “We are trying to do everything not to allow terrorists to prevail, even if they say that they are no longer terrorists.”
Russia has been assisting President Assad’s military since 2015, including when armed opposition rebels launched their latest offensive last week.
A military vehicle belonging to Syrian government forces was seized by rebels and destroyed
OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES/
However, it simultaneously withdrew all of its vessels from a naval base in Syria, as the insurgents’ threat on the government regime escalated.
He continued: “Militarily, Russia helps the Syrian army with the air force … and we help the Syrian army to counter the attacks of terrorists. What is the forecast? I cannot guess. We are not in the business of guessing.”
‘UK will take action in Syria if it crosses red line’
A British minister has said the UK will take action in Syria if the government regime crosses a “red line” in its warfare.
Hamish Falconer, the Foreign Office minister for the Middle East, said that the use of chemical weapons in the region by either side would be “intolerable”.
When asked how the UK would respond to further escalation, Falconer said: “I raised chemical weapons specifically just to be clear that they remain a red line for the UK in Syria and indeed internationally … I won’t speculate on what we would do should that be breached but I am raising it because it remains a red line for us. We would take appropriate action if we saw that red line breached.”
President Assad’s regime has a history of using chemical weapons during the civil war — and the UK has a history, in extreme circumstances, of retaliating. It launched missile strikes on a chemical weapons storage facility, alongside the US and France, in 2018.
UN withdraws ‘non-critical’ staff from Syria
The United Nations is withdrawing “non-critical” staff from Syria, according to its humanitarian coordinator for the country.
Adam Abdelmoula said that the UN is “strategically reducing its footprint by relocating non-critical staff outside the country”, though insists that it is maintaining its presence.
Hama, which is located about 46km north of Homs, has been taken over by rebels
EMIN SANSAR/ANADOLU/GETTY IMAGES
“Recent rumors suggesting that the United Nations is evacuating all staff from Syria are false,” he said in a statement. “The UN remains operational in Syria, with personnel on the ground ensuring the continuation of vital humanitarian efforts.”
The Associated Press reported that the Israeli military is providing support, after a UN post in the Syrian town of Hader, close to the Israeli border, was threatened by rebel forces.
The Israeli army said in a statement that it was “assisting UN forces in repelling the attack”, which was carried out by “armed individuals”.
Assad may be on the brink, but would Syria’s rebels be any better?
As rebels opposed to President Assad advance on Damascus, the coalition of forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham might not bring the freedom the war-ravaged nation craves, writes Samuel Ramani.
• Read in full: Assad may be on the brink, but would Syria’s rebels be any better?
People released from Syrian prisons
Social media has been flooded with videos of people being released from Syria’s notorious prisons after being detained during the Assad family’s half century in power.
In Beirut, Muammar Al-Ali immediately knew that the bearded man in one video, who was being freed from a prison in Hama, was his brother, Ali, who has been missing for nearly 40 years.
Ali Al-Ali was arrested aged 18 at a checkpoint by the Syrian army when it was in Lebanon during the country’s 1975-90 civil war, said his family, who spent decades knocking on every door searching for him.
But the family have not yet been able to make contact with him since seeing a video posted online on Thursday, Al-Ali said.
Around 700 Lebanese people are also thought by relatives to be held in Syria, taken during the three decades Syrian troops were in their country, many of them held for their political views.
Demonstrators pull down statue of president’s father
Demonstrators toppled a statue of the father of President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday afternoon in a suburb just south of Damascus.
Videos show people in the main square of Jermana chanting and waving flags, as others pull down the sculpture of Hafez al-Assad, the former president, smash it into pieces and carry it through the streets.
Syrians toppled the statue Hafez al-Assad in Jaramana, on the outskirts of Damascus
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The area is a Druze stronghold, a religious minority which has joined the rebel fight against Assad’s regime. The celebrations came as government troops were said to have retreated from the suburb.
According to Reuters, protesters were making their way to government buildings in the town where several security branches are located.
In other suburbs, soldiers changed into civilian clothes and deserted their posts.
Assad remains in Damascus, according to Syria’s state news agency.
UN special envoy calls for immediate talks to end conflict
Geir Pedersen, the United Nations’ special envoy for Syria, has called for immediate talks in Geneva to end armed conflict in the country and bring about an “orderly political transition”.
His calls for the implementation of UN Resolution 2254 was adopted by members of the security council in December 2015 amidst the civil war.
The resolution calls for a nationwide ceasefire and political settlement.
Speaking to reporters at an event in Doha, Pedersen said the need for a political transition has “never been more urgent”.
President Erdogan: There is a new reality in Syria
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, has said “there is now a new reality in Syria, politically and diplomatically”, as rebels continue to advance on Damascus.
“Syria belongs to Syrians with all its ethnic, sectarian and religious elements,” Erdogan said in a speech on Saturday in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep.
President Erdogan said “there is now a new reality in Syria, politically and diplomatically”
TURKISH PRESIDENCY/MURAT KULA/ANADOLU/GETTY IMAGES
“The people of Syria are the ones who will decide the future of their own country.”
Ankara has for years supported Syrian opposition forces looking to oust the Iran and Russia-backed Assad.
“As Turkey, our wish is for our neighbour Syria to quickly regain the peace, stability and tranquillity it has been longing for 13 years,” he added.
Regional leaders meet in Doha
Regional leaders are meeting at a summit in Doha today where the crisis in Syria was top of the agenda.
Addressing the audience at the Doha Forum in Qatar, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia aimed to ensure Syria remained united, adding that it was co-ordinating efforts with Turkey and Iran to ensure that “a call for de-escalation in Syria is heard”.
On the sidelines of the forum, the foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran, and Russia also met to discuss the ongoing rebel offensive in Syria.
Trump says US should not get involved in Syrian conflict
President-elect Donald Trump said the United States should not get involved in the conflict in Syria, as insurgents threaten the government of President Assad.
“Syria is a mess but is not our friend,” he posted on Truth Social. “The United States should have nothing to do with it. This is not our fight. Let it play out. Do not get involved!”
Trump has travelled to Paris this weekend for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral, his fcirst foreign trip as president-elect.
Trump said that Russia, “because they are so tied up in Ukraine”, have been “incapable” of stopping the march of rebel forces through the country and towards the capital of Damascus.
Russian forces have been close allies with the Syrian government since 2015, with Assad’s forces still heavily reliant on its military support.
Trump continued: “There was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia, other than to make Obama look really stupid.”
Forces entering region from the north
Rebels are also advancing from the north. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel forces, an Islamist group and al-Qaeda offshoot led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, have entered the edge of Homs, about 100 miles north of Damascus.
Homs, a crucial crossroads connecting Damascus to the north, the coast, and eastern regions, is a vital hub for controlling supply lines and serves as the final major stronghold before the capital itself.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the Assad regime has started bombing rebel positions north of Homs, which is Syria’s third-largest city and a former flashpoint in the civil war
Syrian rebels at the gates of Damascus
Rebels in Syria are at the gates of Damascus and have announced the beginning of their final phase to encircle the capital, as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad continue to retreat from large swathes of the country.
Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president
STRINGER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Advancing from Daraa in the south, which is now largely under opposition control, the rebels are rapidly gaining ground in Damascus province, capturing several towns, including Darayya, just three miles from central Damascus. As regime forces retreat from rural areas of Damascus province, they are concentrating their defences on what appear to be their final strongholds: Homs and Damascus.