Syrian rebels announced on the night from Saturday to Sunday that they enter the capital of the country, Damascusencountering no resistance from government troops. Earlier, Reuters and CNN wrote about the fighting in the city. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the army government withdraws from Damascus airport.
“Our forces have begun to enter Damascus,” the Islamist group said Hayat Tahrir al-Sam (HTS) on social media. HTS leads Syrian rebel forces who they have been on the offensive for a week and a half against the forces of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
The rebels previously reported that took over on Saturday the country's third largest city, Homs. In the previous days they won, among others: Aleppo, Hima and took over almost the entire southwestern part of the country.
Shooting in the capital of Syria. Fighting for Damascus
You could hear it in the center of Damascus sounds of intense gunfire – Reuters reported, citing two residents of the city.
The rebels are on the northern outskirts of the city, there are fighting, there is no electricity, the internet is very weakpeople are sheltering at home – another resident of the Syrian capital reported to CNN.
– In military terms, Damascus has already fallen – a source familiar with the rebels' activities told the station. As it was added, rebel reconnaissance units had already entered the city with the task of finding the president Baszara al-Asadaale go they didn't catch it. The rebels are occupying key positions in strategic points of the city, the source added to CNN.
Assad remains elusive. Did the dictator escape from the capital?
President Syria Bashar al-Assad on Sunday he left the country's capital at nightDamascus, on board a plane that took off in an unknown direction – world agencies reported citing local media and sources in the Syrian army.
This information was confirmed, among others, by Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), in an interview with the German dpa agency.
Government media they denied it information on Saturday about Assad's escape from Damascus. Two senior Syrian army officers said that Assad had left the country's capital going to an unknown location, Reuters reported overnight.
The rebels added that they liberated the military prison in the town Sajdnaya located several kilometers north of Damascus, where they were held thousands of opponents of the regime Asada.
Russia and Iran too weakened to help their ally
Ongoing for a week and a half The fighting is the most serious clashes in Syria since 2020, when the front line in the civil war that has been going on since 2011 was frozen. The Assad regime then managed to regain control over much of the country, to a large degree thanks to your support Russia and Iran.
Both countries continue to help Assad, Russian aircraft regularly bomb rebel-held cities, but both Moscow and Tehran are also involved in other conflicts. Russia has been waging war in Ukraine for over two years, and Iran has been supporting the actions of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis against Israel.
According to SOHR, in the current phase of the conflict in Syria withover 800 people have already diedincluding over 100 civilians. UN informed Fr 370 thousand refugees. Since 2011, at least half a million people have died in Syria's civil war.
Control over Damascus is crucial for the future of Syria
According to Reuters, the rebels announced that Damascus is “free of Assad”.
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