Damascus expected to fall as Assad regime's defenses collapse
World
Syrian insurgents have surrounded the capital
Opposition fighters captured key central city of Homs; Iranian forces who were defending Assad evacuated from Syria
Senior Assad regime elements are considering defecting; the fighters say they are in touch with them
Assad whereabouts unknown; The Syrian armed opposition says its fighters have freed all the prisoners
(Web Desk) – Damascus is expected to fall, three U.S. officials told CBS News, as Syrian opposition fighters fighters have surrounded the capital in a swiftly moving offensive. Syrian insurgents also claimed early Sunday to have captured the key central city of Homs.
Iranian forces who'd been defending Syrian President Bashar Assad have "pretty much" evacuated from Syria, the U.S. officials said. The government was forced to deny rumors that Assad had fled the country.
Syrian opposition fighters reached the suburbs of Damascus on Saturday as part of a rapidly moving offensive that has seen them take over some of Syria's largest cities, opposition activists and a rebel commander said Saturday.
The advances in the past week were among the largest in recent years by opposition factions, led by a group that has its origins in al-Qaida and is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the United Nations. In their push to overthrow Assad's government, the insurgents, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, have met little resistance from the Syrian army.
For the first time in the country's long-running civil war, the government now has control of only three of 14 provincial capitals: Damascus, Latakia and Tartus.
Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said insurgents are now active in the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya.
He added that opposition fighters on Saturday were also marching from eastern Syria toward the Damascus suburb of Harasta.
A commander with the insurgents, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the Telegram messaging app that opposition forces have started carrying out the "final stage" of their offensive by encircling Damascus. He added that insurgents were headed from southern Syria toward Damascus.
Ghani said early Sunday local time that insurgent forces had "fully liberated" Homs, Syria's third-largest city, Reuters reported, as government forces had supposedly abandoned the city. If they have indeed captured Homs, they would cut the link between Damascus, Assad's seat of power, and the northern coastal region where the president enjoys wide support.
Rebel forces appear to have entered the Syrian capital of Damascus, one resident told CNN, as the Assad regime’s defenses showed signs of collapsing.
“The rebels are in Barzeh,” a neighborhood inside Damascus city, the resident told CNN, adding that clashes were currently taking place.
“I saw rebel fighters moving through the inner alleys of Barzeh toward Police Club Street, and I can hear very loud sounds of clashes. The electricity is cut off, and the internet is very weak, people are staying at their houses.”
“Militarily, Damascus has fallen,” a source familiar with the rebels’ advance told CNN.
Reconnaissance units had entered Damascus overnight searching for President Bashar al-Assad but were unable to find him, the source added.
Special rebel operatives have entered Damascus and are taking up key positions in “strategic places,” the source said.
The rebels say they are in touch with senior Assad regime elements who are considering defecting.
Through the day, anti-regime forces have been moving from the north, south and east toward Damascus, reaching suburbs less than 5 miles — and in one case, barely 1 mile — from the center of the Syrian capital.
