Tens of thousands flee Homs amid rebel advance; fear of mass migration looms as conflict intensifies.
Tens of thousands of people have fled Homs as the Syria n city looks set to become the third to be captured by Islamist-led rebels in another blow for President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
It added this morning that the rebels were just three miles from Homs on Friday, after seizing control of two strategic towns, Rastan and Talbisseh, on the road linking it to Hama. As rebels were reported to be bearing down on Homs, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman reported a mass exodus from the city of members of Assad's Alawite minority community.
He said tens of thousands were heading towards areas along Syria's Mediterranean coast, where the Alawites, followers of an offshoot of Shiite Islam, form the majority. The rebels launched their offensive a little more than a week ago, just as a ceasefire in neighbouring Lebanon took hold between Israel and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's ally Hezbollah.
Rebel fighters hold weapons in front of Hama governor's building as they gather after Syrian rebels captured the city during their advance across northern Syria A multi-barrel rocket launcher fires against regime forces, in the northern outskirts of Syria's west-central city of Hama on December 4, 2024
By early Thursday afternoon, Syria's army admitted it had lost control of the strategically located city seen as crucial in its efforts to protect the capital and seat of power, Damascus. Maya, a 22-year-old student who gave only her first name for security concerns, said she and her family were staying at home as the fighting rages outside.
Key to the rebels' successes since the start of the offensive last week was the takeover of Aleppo, which in more than a decade of war had never entirely fallen out of government hands.
Syria Rebels Homs Migration Conflict Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham
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