Thousands Flee Syrian City Of Homs

Thousands of people fled the central Syrian city of Homs overnight and into Friday morning, a war monitoring group and residents said, as rebel forces sought to push their lightning offensive against government forces further south.

The head of the Syrian faction leading the sweeping assault said that his group – a former Al-Qaeda affiliate now known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – aimed to “build Syria” and bring Syrian refugees back home from Lebanon and Europe.

It was Abu Mohammed Al-Golani’s first interview since his group began seizing territory from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces on Nov. 27. Rebels have captured two major cities so far and are now thrusting toward Homs, a key crossroads city linking the capital Damascus to Assad’s coastal heartlands.

After years locked behind frozen front lines, the insurgents have burst out of their northwestern Idlib bastion to reel off the swiftest battlefield advance by either side since a street uprising against Assad mushroomed into civil war 13 years ago.

Regained Control

Assad regained control of most of Syria after his key allies – Russia, Iran, and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group – came to his support. But all have recently been diverted by other crises, giving Syrian Sunni Muslim militants a window to fight back.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said thousands of people had begun fleeing from Homs on Thursday night towards the Mediterranean coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus, strongholds of the government.

A ‘coastal’ resident said thousands of people had begun arriving there from Homs, fearing the rebels’ rapid advance.

Wasim Marouh, a resident of Homs city who decided not to leave, said most of its main commercial streets were empty, and only a few grocery shops were open as pro-government militia groups were roaming the streets.

Thousands of families had rushed out of the city overnight, and traffic jams held up cars for hours, he said.

Rebels led by HTS have sought to capitalise on their swift takeovers of Aleppo in the north and Hama in west-central Syria by pressing onwards to Homs, another 40 km (24 miles) south.

A rebel operations room urged Homs residents in an online post to rise up, saying: “Your time has come.”
Seizing Homs would cut off Damascus from the coast, a longtime redoubt of Assad’s minority Alawite sect and where his Russian allies have a naval base and air base.

Russian bombing overnight destroyed the Rustan bridge along the M5 highway, the main route to Homs, to prevent rebels using it to advance, a Syrian army officer said. Reports said.

“There were at least eight strikes on the bridge,” he added. Government forces were bringing reinforcements to positions around Homs. He added

Reuters/Shakirat Sadiq