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.
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.
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.
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.
