Syrian rebels readied to press their lightning advance on Saturday as government forces buttressed collapsing frontlines and bombarded the insurgents' positions around Homs, in a bid to save President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year rule,
Reuters reports.
Since the rebels' sweep into Aleppo a week ago, government defences have crumbled across the country at dizzying speed as insurgents seized a string of major cities and rose up in places where the rebellion had long seemed over.
Besides capturing Aleppo in the north, Hama in the centre and Deir al-Zor in the east, rebels rose up in southern Suweida and Deraa, saying on Friday they had taken control of the two cities and posting videos showing insurgent celebrations there.
Two security sources based in eastern Syria said that by Friday afternoon the alliance, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), had taken full control of the city of Deir el-Zor, the third city to fall out of President Bashar al-Assad's control in a week.
Omar Abu Layla, an activist from the media platform Deir Ezzor 24 with contacts in the city, told Reuters that Syrian government forces and Iran-backed Iraqi fighters had pulled out of Deir el-Zor before the SDF swept in.
Shortly afterwards, the Syrian Democratic Forces swept through the nearby Albu Kamal border crossing with Iraq, two Syrian army sources told
Reuters.
Deir el-Zor city has changed hands several times since Syria's conflict broke out in 2011 after protests against Assad.
Syria's military said it was carrying out airstrikes around Hama and Homs and reinforcing on that front. It also said it was repositioning around Deraa and Suweida, without acknowledging their capture by rebels.
The pace of events has stunned Arab capitals and raised fears of a fresh wave of regional instability, with Qatar saying on Saturday it threatened Syria's territorial integrity.
Syria's civil war, which erupted in 2011 as an uprising against Assad's rule, dragged in big outside powers, created space for jihadist militants to plot attacks around the world and sent millions of refugees into neighbouring states.
