Damascus expected to fall, U.S. officials say, as insurgents surround Syrian capital | Global News Avenue

Three U.S. officials told CBS News that Damascus is expected to fall as Syrian rebels mount a rapid offensive that surrounds the capital. Syrian rebels also claimed control of the important central city of Homs earlier on Sunday.

U.S. officials say Iranian forces that have been protecting Syrian President Bashar Assad have “largely” withdrawn from Syria.

syrian rebels They arrived on the outskirts of Damascus on Saturday as part of a rapid offensive to seize some of Syria’s largest cities, opposition activists and a rebel commander said on Saturday.

Opposition war monitor Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said rebels are currently active in the Damascus suburbs of Madamiyeh, Jaramana and Daraya. Opposition fighters also marched from eastern Syria to the Damascus suburb of Harasta on Saturday, he added.

Rebel commander Hassan Abdul Ghani said in a post on the Telegram messaging app that opposition forces had begun the “final phase” of an offensive to encircle Damascus. He added that the rebels were heading to Damascus from southern Syria.

Ghani said earlier on Sunday that rebel forces had “completely liberated” Homs, Syria’s third largest city, as government forces reportedly abandoned the city, Reuters reported. If they do capture Homs, they would cut off links between Damascus, the seat of Assad’s power, and the northern coastal region where the president enjoys broad support.

Russia, his main international backer, is preoccupied with its war in Ukraine, while Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support his forces, has been weakened by a year-long conflict with Israel. Meanwhile, Iran’s proxies in the region have been weakened by regular Israeli airstrikes. The Israel Defense Forces said on Saturday it was assisting United Nations forces in repelling an attack by armed men on a United Nations post in the Hader area.

President-elect Donald Trump commented on the situation on The Truth Society on Saturday, saying: “The United States should have nothing to do with this. This is not our fight. Let it end. Don’t get involved. !”

Three U.S. officials told CBS News that the Assad family’s rule that began in 1971 appears to be coming to an end.

“The United States will not … intervene militarily in the Syrian civil war,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told the audience at the Reagan Defense Forum, an annual gathering of national security officials and defense companies. and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. “What we have to do is focus on America’s national security priorities and interests.”

He said the United States will continue to take necessary actions to prevent the Islamic State – a violent anti-Western extremist group that is not known to be involved in the offensive but has sleeper cells in the Syrian desert – from taking advantage of the openings created by the fighting. .

How conflict reignites

The civil war escalated dramatically and thousands of people fled the area. For years, neither side made significant progress until the Civil War broke out. Rebels launch assault offensive about Two weeks ago.

About a week later, the rebels began a sweeping attack on the north of the country and took full control of another city, Hama. The first major prize of their offensive was the seizure a week ago of Aleppo, long the second most populous city in Syria.

In an exclusive interview with CNN in Syria on Thursday, HTS leader Abu Mohammad Golani said the offensive was aimed at overthrowing Assad’s government.

Syrian troops withdrew from much of southern Syria on Saturday, military and opposition war monitors said, leaving more of the country, including two provincial capitals, under the control of opposition militants. The Syrian military has sent massive reinforcements to defend Homs as it redeploys troops from the southern provinces of Daraa and Suwayda.

The Syrian army said in a statement earlier on Saturday that it had redeployed and redeployed troops in Suweida and Daraa after its checkpoints were attacked by “terrorists”. The military said it was building a “strong and coherent defense and security belt” in the area, in an apparent effort to defend Damascus from the south.

Since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011, the Syrian government has labeled opposition gunmen terrorists.

In the gas-rich country of Qatar, the foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey planned to meet to discuss the situation in Syria. Türkiye is a major backer of rebels seeking to overthrow Assad.

Qatar’s top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, criticized Assad for failing to take advantage of a lull in fighting in recent years to address the country’s underlying problems. “Assad did not seize this opportunity to start engaging and restoring relations with the people,” he said.

Sheikh Mohammed said he was surprised by the speed of the rebels’ advance and said there was a real threat to Syria’s “territorial integrity.” He said that without a sense of urgency to launch a political process, war could “damage and destroy everything that is left.”

After the cities of Daraa and Suwayda fell early on Saturday, Syrian government forces still control five provincial capitals – Damascus, Homs and Quneitra, as well as Latakia and Tajikistan on the Mediterranean coast. Ertus.

Tartus is home to the only Russian naval base outside the former Soviet Union, while Latakia is home to Russia’s main air base.

Militants from the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) seized large swaths of the eastern Deir ez-Zor province on the border with Iraq and the provincial capital of the same name on Friday. The seizure of the Deir ez-Zor region is a blow to Iran’s influence in the region, as the region is the gateway to a corridor linking the Mediterranean to Iran and a supply route for Iranian-backed militants, including Lebanese Hezbollah.

With the SDF seizing the main crossing with Iraq and rebel fighters taking control of the Nasib crossing into Jordan in southern Syria, the Syrian government’s only gateway to the outside world is the Masna crossing with Lebanon.

contributed to this report.