Portraits of Bashar al-Assad were torn down one after the other, and statues erected to the glory of his father, Hafez al-Assad, were toppled in the streets of the major suburbs and the large southern and southeastern suburbs of Damascus, the capital, on Saturday, December 7, where people have been taking to the streets after the departure of the army and security forces. Their populations awaiting the arrival of the advance forces of the armed rebellion, the effectively liberated neighborhoods have included former strongholds of the uprising against the regime and old front lines from the years 2012-2016, such as Daraya, seven kilometers from the presidential palace, and Al-Moadamia, on the periphery of one of the country’s main air bases. An attack on this strategic position would signal the arrival of armed elements of the opposition at the threshold of the city’s administrative boundaries.
Earlier, images of soldiers retreating, sometimes on foot, toward the city center were filmed by local residents. The Syrian interior minister made a tour of the streets of the city center at around 6 pm (local time), assuring the public that “a security wall had been erected around the capital and that no one would succeed in breaking it down.” In the capital − which residents, terrified by the arrival of the rebels, have been evacuating en masse − according to a source contacted by Le Monde, the streets are depopulated and shops have closed, having been emptied out by residents, who have been stocking up in anticipation of fighting.
After taking control of Deraa province, in the south of the country, factions of the rebellion, often former rebels who had laid down their arms and reconciled with the regime under the auspices of Russia, have been advancing toward the capital without encountering any resistance. In much smaller numbers, elements loyal to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the main group on the offensive against the regime in the north, have also been moving down toward the outskirts of the city.
Capturing Homs
With the Syrian army having evacuated all its positions in their path, the factions have meanwhile seized all government positions in the three southern provinces: Deraa, where they control the border with Jordan; Kuneitra, which borders the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights; and Suweida, a predominantly Druze province, where local rebels are deployed in large numbers.
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