Syria: Rebels near Homs as thousands flee, monitor says

Insurgents led by the Islamist faction Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) are advancing on the central Syrian city of Homs, the UK-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.

The Observatory said the insurgents were now just 5 km (3 miles) from the outskirts of the key city, which provides a link between the capital, Damascus, and the north.

The southward march of the rebels comes after they captured the northern city of Aleppo and Hama in the center in what have been devastating blows to the power of autocratic President Bashar Assad.

De facto HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani said the aim of the offensive was to overthrow Assad.

"When we talk about objectives, the goal of the revolution remains the overthrow of this regime. It is our right to use all available means to achieve that goal," Golani told US broadcaster CNN in an interview.

Mass displacement

Homs residents have been leaving their homes in their thousands and fleeing to western coastal regions that are under full control by the government, the Observatory said.

A Syrian army officer told Reuters that reinforcements were arriving to help government forces consolidate positions around the city.

He also said that Russian forces had also bombed the Rustan bridge along the key M5 highway overnight in a bid to stop the rebels using what is a main route to Homs.

But the Observatory said the rebels had reached an area very near the city despite efforts to hold them back.

 "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions have reached five kilometers from the outskirts of Homs city after controlling the towns of Rastan and Talbisseh," it said.

It added that controlling Homs would allow the rebels to "cut off the main road leading to the Syrian coast," the stronghold of the Alawite minority to which Assad belongs.

Observatory head Abdel Rahman told the German dpa news agency that the fight for Homs was "crucial" because "whoever wins this battle will rule Syria in the future." 

Who is behind the insurgency?

Syria descended into civil war in 2012 after a brutal government crackdown on largely peaceful pro-democracy protests in the previous year.

Various state-sponsored and non-state actors were drawn into the ensuing conflicts, with notably Russia and Iran stepping in to aid Assad in suppressing the revolt.

With their aid, Assad succeeded in bringing two-thirds of the country back under his control.

However, now, the pro-Turkish HTS, previously affiliated with the terrorist group al-Qaeda, has become the driving force behind the new wave of insurgency.

 HTS controls Syria's northeast region of Idlib, which had become the country's last opposition bastion.

The offensive comes at a time when Russia and Iran, Assad's major allies,have had their attention diverted by conflicts elsewhere, likely weakening the Syrian army's fighting power.

While HTS is trying to capture areas controled by Assad, the offensive can also be seen in the context of Turkish efforts to target majority Kurds in the country's northeast.

Turkey, which borders Syria to the north and largely opposes the government in Damascus, has regularly attacked the Kurdish autonomous region and targeted groups Ankara has labeled "terrorist," such the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF. 

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he hoped the Syrian rebels would continue to advance 

"The advances of the opposition are continuing as of now ... Our hope is that this walk in Syria continues without any issues," he said.

tj/rc (AFP, Reuters, dpa)