Anti-government forces have already captured Aleppo and Hama in lightning offensive
Syrian rebels say they are closing in on the strategic city of Homs as they push ahead with a lightning advance southwards towards President Bashar al-Assad’s remaining strongholds. “Our forces have liberated the last village on the outskirts of Homs city and are now at its walls,” the rebels said late on Friday evening via their Telegram channel. Homs is the largest city still controlled by Assad’s regime on the highway that leads south to the capital, Damascus.
Russian jets have responded to the rebels’ advance with air strikes but in a sign of the crisis’ severity, Moscow warned its citizens on Friday to flee Syria. On Saturday, the New York Times reported that Iranian military commanders were being evacuated. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told the state news agency IRNA that its embassy in Damascus had not been evacuated. “The embassy of the Islamic republic of Iran continues its activities as usual,” he said.
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