ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Syrian rebels led by the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on Sunday announced that they had taken full control of the strategic city of Homs on their way towards the capital, Damascus.
“We announce the complete liberation of Homs city,” HTS commander Hassan Abdulghani announced on the rebels’ Telegram channels.
Homs is located 162 kilometers north of the capital Damascus, and it is the third largest Syrian city.
Homs is the third major city captured by the rebels since the start of their sweeping advances over the past week, which included Aleppo, Hama, and Daraa.
This comes as the Syrian defense ministry said late on Saturday that the situation in Homs was “safe and stable,” denying reports of rebels entering the key city.
Abdulghani announced earlier that they have “succeeded in freeing more than 3,500 prisoners from the Homs central prison,” promising to free all inmates in regime prisons.
Damascus has yet to confirm the withdrawal from Homs.
Syria’s civil war dramatically reignited late last month when a coalition of rebels led by the Islamist HTS launched a blistering offensive against the Syrian army. They quickly took control of the northern city of Aleppo, the largest in the country, and then advanced to capture the strategic central province of Hama. They also took control of Daraa city late on Friday.
As the HTS-led rebels have pushed south to Damascus, the Syrian army has withdrawn from multiple locations.
The rebels are reportedly edging toward the outskirts of the capital Damascus.
The Syrian Interior Minister Mohammed al-Rahmoun told state television that they have established “a very strong security and military cordon” around Damascus, stressing that no one can “penetrate the defensive line” they have created.
As the rebels continue to advance towards Damascus, regional countries, including allies and foes, as well as Russia, held a meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha to discuss the latest development in the country.
The foreign ministers of Iraq, Russia, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Qatar met in Doha and stressed that the “continuation of the Syrian crisis constitutes a dangerous development for the safety of the country and regional and international security, which requires all parties to seek a political solution to the Syrian crisis that leads to end of military operations, and protection of civilians from the repercussions of this crisis. ,” read a joint statement released following the meeting.
“The Ministers stressed the need to stop military operations in preparation for launching a comprehensive political process, based on Security Council Resolution 2254,” it added.
UN Security Council Resolution 2254 was adopted in 2015 and calls for a ceasefire and a political settlement in Syria. Years of UN-led negotiations have failed to reach an agreement that all parties can accept.
