Syria updates: Rebel forces begin to enter city of Homs

HTS commander Hassan Abdul-Ghani claimed his forces had freed more than 3,500 prisoners in Homs.

"Our forces ... have succeeded in freeing more than 3,500 prisoners from the prison ... in Homs," he said. 

He said his forces had already begun the "final stage" of their advance by moving to encircle Damascus.

Meanwhile, the leader of HTS, using his real name of Ahmed al-Sharaa rather than his nom de guerre of Abu Mohammed al-Golani, said in a video published on Telegram: "The process of advancing and combing the city's neighborhoods is currently under way." 

"We are currently living the final moments of liberating Homs," al-Sharaa said.

War monitors, the leader of the HTS fighters and pro-government media all reported late on Saturday that forces loyal to President Bashar Assad had largely withdrawn from the country's third city, Homs. 

The head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdurrahman, said Syrian troops and members of different security agencies had withdrawn from Homs, and that HTS forces had started to enter the suburbs. 

Rebel commander Hassan Abdul-Ghani said on Saturday that rebel forces had started entering Homs. Ghany's HTS is the group that has made the most military gains and that spearheaded the sudden resurgence that can now be observed in other parts of the country.

Pro-government radio station Sham FM said government forces had taken up positions outside the city but did not provide any further details.

News agency Reuters also cited a Syrian army officer, who it did not name, as saying that units of Lebanese group Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces had left the city. 

Homs and the surrounding area is considered strategically important in the conflict, not just as it is the country's third-largest city. 

Should HTS forces be able to control the roads around the city, it would cut the capital Damascus off from Syria's coastline and ports, at least if moving within Syrian territory, with Assad forces still largely in control of coastal provinces.

The governments of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Joran, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Russia issued a joint statement late on Saturday after emergency talks in Astana, Kazakhstan.

"The participants stressed in a joint statement regarding the recent events in Syria, that the continuation of the Syrian crisis constitutes a dangerous development for the safety of the country and regional and international security," according to an English document shared online by Qatar's Foreign Ministry. 

The countries said the situation "requires all parties to seek a political solution to the Syrian crisis that leads to an end of military operations, and protection of civilians from the repercussions of the crisis." 

They also called for additional international efforts to provide humanitarian aid. 

The countries "stressed the need to stop military operations in preparation for launching a comprehensive political process, based on Security Council Resolution 2254." 

This referred to a 2015 appeal for some kind of political negotiations to end the conflict, which came before Assad's forces appeared to more or less pacify most of the country with support from allies like Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. 

Countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, meanwhile, were typically seen to back Syrian rebels, or at least some of them, during the conflict.

Syria's Interior Minister Mohammed al-Rahmoun appeared on state television on Saturday, looking to assure people that the capital Damascus and its surroundings were well protected. 

"There is a very strong security and military cordon on the far edges of Damascus and its countryside, and no one... can penetrate this defensive line that we, the armed forces, are building," al-Rahmoun said. 

This comes as rebel groups in two provinces south of Damascus, Daraa and Sweida, seized various government facilities as Assad forces withdrew north toward the capital. 

The bulk of the fighting during the rapid gains by rebels in the last week has been to the north of Damascus, with Assad forces losing ground to the Turkish-affiliated HTS group.

HTS is still fighting for control of the city and wider area around Homs, around 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of the capital. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported large numbers of army reinforcements entering that region. 

Syria's Defense Ministry also sought to reassure those in the capital, saying there was "no truth" to reports of its forces withdrawing from positions on the outskirts of the capital. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday released a statement saying IDF soldiers were assisting United Nations forces under fire in the Golan Heights.

"A short while ago, an attack was carried out by armed individuals at a UN post in the Hader area in Syria," the IDF said on X, formerly Twitter. "The IDF is currently assisting the UN forces in repelling the attack." 

Just hours earlier, the Israeli military announced the reinforcement of its presence in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights at the Syrian border.

"The reinforcement of forces will enable the strengthening of defense in the area, and the preparation of forces for various scenarios in the sector," the statement said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he hopes Syria "finds peace" as armed groups push ahead in their offensive against President Bashar Assad's government.

"Our wish is for our neighbor, Syria, to find the peace and tranquility it has been dreaming of for 13 years," Erdogan said, speaking in Gaziantep, a city less than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the Syrian border.

He said that Syria is "tired of war, blood and tears."

Turkey is home to some three million Syrian refugees. Ankara-backed factions control parts of northern Syria and Turkey has led several military incursions into the country throughout the civil war.

US President-elect Donald Trump has said his country should "not get involved" in the situation in Syria, calling it a "mess."

Shortly before a scheduled meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, where he is due to attend the reopening ceremony of the Notre Dame cathedral, Trump commented on the situation in the Middle Eastern country on his Truth Social platform.

"Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!," Trump wrote.

He added that Moscow "seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years," due to its war in Ukraine.

If Russia were forced out of Syria, it "may actually be the best thing that can happen to them" because "there was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia," Trump said.

The office of Syrian President Bashar Assad denied reports that the leader had left Syria's capital, Damascus.

The presidency condemned what it described as "rumors and false news about [Assad] leaving Damascus."

"We confirm that the Syrian president is pursuing his work and national and constitutional tasks from the capital, Damascus," the statement said.

It comes after Syrian rebel groups said they had advanced to within 20 kilometers (12 miles) of the country's capital.

Anti-government protesters toppled a statue of late President Hafez Assad in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana.

A witness was cited by the French AFP news agency as saying by phone that he saw "dozens of protesters" tearing down the statue in a main square in Jaramana. The square bears Hafez's name.

Another witness said the statue was later smashed.

Hafez was the father of current President Bashar Assad.

Jaramana lies some 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) southeast of downtown Damascus and is predominantly inhabited by Druze and Christians.

The protesters were calling for the downfall of Assad's government, according to witnesses cited by news agencies.

Russia and Iran, which back Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Turkey, which backs the rebels in Syria, have agreed that there needs to be an immediate end to "hostilities," Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a meeting in Doha on Saturday.

Speaking at the annual Doha Forum, Lavrov said Moscow continues to help the Syrian army confront the rebels.

"We are very sorry for the Syrian people who became a subject of another geopolitical experiment," he said, blaming the US and the West for what's happening in Syria. "We are doing everything we can not to make terrorists prevail, even if they say they are not terrorists."

Lavrov was referring to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist group leading the latest campaign against Assad.

The group was labeled a foreign terrorist organization by the US in 2018, and was previously affiliated with al-Qaeda, another US-designated terror outfit. 

"It's inadmissible to allow the terrorist group to take control of the lands in violation of agreements which exist, starting with the UN Security Council Resolution 2254 which strongly reiterated sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of the Syrian Arab Republic," Lavrov said.

Lavrov said Russia wanted to see dialogue between the Syrian government and what he called the "legitimate opposition" in Syria.

When asked whether he thinks the current events were threatening Assad's rule, Lavrov said: "We are not in the business of guessing what's going to happen."

Syrian rebel forces have taken the southern town of Sanamayn and advanced to within 20 kilometers (12 miles) of the capital, Damascus, rebel commander Hassan Abdul-Ghani said on Saturday.

Abdul-Ghani is a commander within the Islamist-led alliance that has launched the ongoing offensive in the country's northwest.

Sanamayn, on the main highway from Damascus to Jordan, is situated in southern Daraa province. 

According to the head of the Britain-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, the province is now completely in the hands of local rebel fighters.

The current security developments in Syria have prompted the United Nations to pull its nonessential staff from the country, while Jordan has joined the growing list of countries urging their citizens to depart.

A UN spokesperson said that the world body would continue its services to support people in Syria despite the partial withdrawal.

Jordan, which has already closed its border crossing with Syria, called on its citizens to leave the country "as soon as possible."

Syria is seeing an intense flare-up of its long-running civil war as an Islamist-led rebel group continues to push on with a lightning offensive that aims to overthrow the government.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has said he feels that Syrian President Bashar Assad did not make use of a period of calm in his country's civil war to try to reconcile with the populace.

"Assad didn't seize these opportunities to start engaging and restoring his relationship with his people, and we didn't see any serious movement, whether it's on the return of the refugees or on reconciling with his own people," he said at the Doha Forum for political dialogue.

Al-Thani also voiced concern that the civil war could threaten Syria's territorial integrity if no political solution to the conflict were found.

The Doha Forum was founded in 2003 with the aim of bringing together leaders to discuss global challenges. It is taking place this year on December 7-8.

The Israeli military says it is reinforcing its presence in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights near the Syrian border.

"In accordance with the assessment of the situation, it was decided to further reinforce forces for defense missions in the Golan Heights area, near the Syrian border," an Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson wrote on Telegram.

"The reinforcement of forces will enable the strengthening of defense in the area, and the preparation of forces for various scenarios in the sector," the statement continued.