Strategic Syrian City Of Homs Poised To Fall To Anti-Assad Advance

Making their way rapidly south down the center of Syria, hordes of jihadist insurgents led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) are already with a few miles of Homs and are set to besiege the city, after taking Aleppo and nearby Hama in just less than a week.

Thousands of Homs residents have been witnessed fleeing, as HTS has declared it ultimately wants to take Damascus, seat of the Assad government. Rastan and Talbiseh – in the governorate of Homs – are said to have fallen to the invaders backed by Turkey and based out of Idlib.

Homs is about 30 miles south of Hama, which only fell Thursday, but is much more strategically important given it links to Damascus and the coast along a key highway.

Samer AbdelJaber, head of emergency coordination at the UN’s World Food Programme, has been quoted in Al Jazeera saying that with some 280,000 people already displaced in a week, these numbers could soon swell to 1.5 million.

People from Aleppo, Hama, and Homs, have been fleeing toward coastal enclaves. It is especially religious minorities, many of them Christians, who are worried about an ethno-religious genocide, given the Al-Qaeda pedigree of the so-called ‘rebels’. Alawites too fear extermination by the radical Islamists. 

Al Jazeera details, “A Syrian army officer told the Reuters news agency that Russian bombing overnight had destroyed the Rastan bridge along the key M5 highway linking Hama to Homs.” Towns in Homs governate which have been captured are located on the Homs side of the bridge, putting HTS within close striking distance of Homs.

BREAKING – Russian airstrikes target Al-Rastan Bridge in Homs countryside, Syria. pic.twitter.com/BnXybHpp24

— Fared Al Mahlool | فريد المحلول (@FARED_ALHOR) December 6, 2024

By all accounts it’s not looking good amid unverified Friday reports that Syrian Army units have begun exiting Homs before even much heavy fighting ensues.

And in another worrying development, suggesting all manpower is being ordered to focus defense on Damascus and its environs, and the coast (such as Latakia) is that Syrian Army troops have “suddenly” exited Deir ez-Zor city and the whole area.

Israel has meanwhile bombed another Lebanon-Syria border crossing, specifically the Arida and Jousiyeh crossings, claiming that it is disrupting Hezbollah supply lines.

Homs pic.twitter.com/dKnenU0jDA

— Rojava Network (@RojavaNetwork) December 6, 2024

An HTS operations room has told the citizens of Homs, “Your time has come” – and has urged them to rise up against Assad forces.

Russian and Syrian warplanes have continued to pound their various positions, but without much resistance on the ground, HTS has been able to more forward at rapid pace.

Syrian forces possibly withdrawing to ultimately defend ‘fortress Damascus’…

#Homs: Assad’s soldiers are withdrawing from the city. This was just shared with me. pic.twitter.com/hAyqKSBMcs

— Stefanie Glinski (@stephglinski) December 6, 2024

Again, the area has many Syrian Christians – many of which have been the first to flee. Once source writes, “With the fall of Hama, new battleground will be in Homs. Valley of the Christians with its 200,000+ Christians may soon be the target of these battles, hosting many refugees also from Suqaylabiyah and Mhardeh. It’s not an overstatement to say the danger may exceed that of 2012-2014.”