Sudan’s RSF chases civilians out of villages in violent raids

Update Sudan’s RSF chases civilians out of villages in violent raids
Sudanese people fleeing the al-Jazira state arrive at an area near the eastern city of Gedaref on November 2, 2024. (File/AFP)
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Updated 04 November 2024
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Sudan’s RSF chases civilians out of villages in violent raids

Sudan’s RSF chases civilians out of villages in violent raids
  • The war has unleashed hunger across the country, erased most signs of a functioning state in RSF-held areas, and prompted fears of fragmentation

NEW HALFA: Salwa Abdallah was recuperating from a caesarean section and tending to her one-month old baby when soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces barged into her home in Sudan’s eastern El Gezira state late last month.
They accused her of loyalty to the army and its allies, their rivals in an 18-month war. “They said ‘You killed us, so today we’ll kill you and rape your girls,’” she told Reuters, sheltering under a makeshift sheet in the town of New Halfa, where she arrived after walking for days on foot with her elderly mother and children.
She said the soldiers chased them out of their village with whips and later shot at them on motorcycles, which two other victims of the attack also mentioned.
Reuters spoke to 13 victims of a series of intense, violent raids in eastern Gezira over the past two weeks, which affected at least 65 villages and towns according to activists.
The UN says some 135,000 people have been displaced, largely to Kassala, Gedaref, and River Nile states, which are already packed with many of the more than 11 million internally displaced by the devastating war that broke out in April 2023.
“I am shocked and deeply appalled that human rights violations of the kind witnessed in Darfur last year ... are being repeated in El Gezira State. These are atrocious crimes,” said the UN’s top official in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, referring to attacks last year that prompted accusations of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity from the United States and others.
The war has unleashed hunger across the country, erased most signs of a functioning state in RSF-held areas, and prompted fears of fragmentation.
Both sides are accused of hindering much needed international assistance.
Spokespersons from the RSF and Sudanese army did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

REVENGE ATTACKS
Though El Gezira state has been subject to a violent looting campaign since the RSF took control in December, the defection of its chief in the state unleashed a series of revenge attacks.
The Wad Madani Resistance Committee, a pro-democracy group, named 169 people killed since the violence began on Oct. 20, though in a statement it said there were hundreds more.
The UN’s human rights office said last week that there were at least 25 cases of sexual violence, including an 11 year-old girl who died as a result. The office also said that the RSF had confiscated Internet devices in at least 30 villages, and cited reports they had burnt fields of crops.
The worst incident was in Al-Sireha, where the committee said 124 people were killed on Oct. 25.
Video verified by Reuters showed RSF soldiers lining up men, many of them elderly, and some in blood-splattered clothes, taunting them and forcing them to bleat.
Another video verified by Reuters showed dozens of bodies wrapped up in sheets for burial.
The RSF has denied ordering both attacks, and said the attacks in Gezira were the result of the army arming local communities.
The army has responded by emphasising popular resistance campaigns, though there has been little evidence of widescale arming of civilians in Gezira.
The Sudanese Human Rights Monitor warned the army against “leaving civilians ... exposed to direct and disproportionate confrontations with the RSF,” which it criticized for not fulfilling promises to protect civilians.
Hashim Bashir, a man disabled after his leg was amputated prior to the war, said RSF soldiers threw him out of his home in Al-Nayb village.
“They are very vicious... If you survive their gunshots, they hit you in your head. If you survive that, they beat you with a whip,” he said, showing scars on his functioning leg.
His niece, Faiza Mohammed, said the RSF soldiers allowed them to take nothing with them, even identifying documents.
“I hid under the bed, but they got me, beat me, and pulled my earring straight off my ear,” she said.


Jordan affirms importance of preserving stability and unity of Syria  

Jordan affirms importance of preserving stability and unity of Syria  
Updated 11 sec ago
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Jordan affirms importance of preserving stability and unity of Syria  

Jordan affirms importance of preserving stability and unity of Syria  

Jordan affirms the importance of preserving the unity and security of Syria in light of the fast-developing recent events, according to the Petra News Agency. 


The fall of Bashar Assad after 14 years of war in Syria brings to an end a decades-long dynasty

The fall of Bashar Assad after 14 years of war in Syria brings to an end a decades-long dynasty
Updated 22 min 46 sec ago
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The fall of Bashar Assad after 14 years of war in Syria brings to an end a decades-long dynasty

The fall of Bashar Assad after 14 years of war in Syria brings to an end a decades-long dynasty
  • Assad’s downfall came as a stark contrast to his first months as Syria’s unlikely president in 2000
  • When faced with protests against his rule that erupted in March 2011, Assad turned to the brutal tactics of his father in an attempt to crush them

BEIRUT: The fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government Sunday brought to a dramatic close his nearly 14-year struggle to hold onto power as his country fragmented amid a brutal civil war that became a proxy battlefield for regional and international powers.
Assad’s downfall came as a stark contrast to his first months as Syria’s unlikely president in 2000, when many hoped he would be a young reformer after three decades of his father’s iron grip. Only 34 years old, the Western-educated ophthalmologist was a rather geeky tech-savvy fan of computers with a gentle demeanor.
But when faced with protests against his rule that erupted in March 2011, Assad turned to the brutal tactics of his father in an attempt to crush them. As the uprising hemorrhaged into an outright civil war, he unleashed his military to blast opposition-held cities, with support from allies Iran and Russia.
International rights groups and prosecutors alleged widespread use of torture and extrajudicial executions in Syria’s government-run detention centers.
The Syrian war has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. As the uprising spiraled into a civil war, millions of Syrians fled across the borders into Jordan, Turkiye, Iraq and Lebanon and on to Europe.
His departure brings an end to the Assad family rule, spanning just under 54 years. With no clear successor, it throws the country into further uncertainty.
Until recently, it seemed that Assad was almost out of the woods. The long-running conflict had settled along frozen conflict lines in recent years, with Assad’s government regaining control of most of Syria’s territory while the northwest remained under the control of opposition groups and the northeast under Kurdish control.
While Damascus remained under crippling Western sanctions, neighboring countries had begun to resign themselves to Assad’s continued hold on power. The Arab League reinstated Syria’s membership last year, and Saudi Arabia in May announced the appointment of its first ambassador to Syria since severing ties with Damascus 12 years earlier.
However, the geopolitical tide turned quickly with a surprise offensive launched by opposition groups based in northwest Syria in late November. Government forces quickly collapsed, while Assad’s allies, preoccupied by other conflicts — including Russia’s war in Ukraine and the yearlong wars between Israel and the Iran-backed militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas — appeared reluctant to forcefully intervene.
Assad’s whereabouts were not clear Sunday, amid reports he had left the country as insurgents took control of the Syrian capital.
He came to power in 2000 by a twist of fate. His father had been cultivating Bashar’s oldest brother Basil as his successor, but in 1994 Basil was killed in a car crash in Damascus. Bashar was brought home from his ophthalmology practice in London, put through military training and elevated to the rank of colonel to establish his credentials so he could one day rule.
When Hafez Assad died in 2000, parliament quickly lowered the presidential age requirement from 40 to 34. Bashar’s elevation was sealed by a nationwide referendum, in which he was the only candidate.
Hafez, a lifelong military man, ruled the country for nearly 30 years during which he set up a Soviet-style centralized economy and kept such a stifling hand over dissent that Syrians feared even to joke about politics to their friends.
He pursued a secular ideology that sought to bury sectarian differences under Arab nationalism and the image of heroic resistance to Israel. He formed an alliance with the Shiite clerical leadership in Iran, sealed Syrian domination over Lebanon and set up a network of Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups.
Bashar initially seemed completely unlike his strongman father.
Tall and lanky with a slight lisp, he had a quiet, gentle demeanor. His only official position before becoming president was head of the Syrian Computer Society. His wife, Asma Al-Akhras, whom he married several months after taking office, was attractive, stylish and British-born.
The young couple, who eventually had three children, seemed to shun trappings of power. They lived in an apartment in the upscale Abu Rummaneh district of Damascus, as opposed to a palatial mansion like other Arab leaders.
Initially upon coming to office, Assad freed political prisoners and allowed more open discourse. In the “Damascus Spring,” salons for intellectuals emerged where Syrians could discuss art, culture and politics to a degree impossible under his father.
But after 1,000 intellectuals signed a public petition calling for multiparty democracy and greater freedoms in 2001 and others tried to form a political party, the salons were snuffed out by the feared secret police who jailed dozens of activists.
Instead of a political opening, Assad turned to economic reforms. He slowly lifted economic restrictions, let in foreign banks, threw the doors open to imports and empowered the private sector. Damascus and other cities long mired in drabness saw a flourishing of shopping malls, new restaurants and consumer goods. Tourism swelled.
Abroad, he stuck to the line his father had set, based on the alliance with Iran and a policy of insisting on a full return of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, although in practice Assad never militarily confronted Israel.
In 2005, he suffered a heavy blow with the loss of Syria’s decades-old control over neighboring Lebanon after the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri. With many Lebanese accusing Damascus of being behind the slaying, Syria was forced to withdraw its troops from the country and a pro-American government came into power.
At the same time, the Arab world became split into two camps — one of US-allied, Sunni-led countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the other Syria and Shiite-led Iran with their ties to Hezbollah and Palestinian militants.
Throughout, Assad relied for largely on the same power base at home as his father: his Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam comprising around 10 percent of the population. Many of the positions in his government went to younger generations of the same families that had worked for his father. Drawn in as well were the new middle class created by his reforms, including prominent Sunni merchant families.
Assad also turned to his own family. His younger brother Maher headed the elite Presidential Guard and would lead the crackdown against the uprising. Their sister Bushra was a strong voice in his inner circle, along with her husband Deputy Defense Minister Assef Shawkat, until he was killed in a 2012 bombing. Bashar’s cousin, Rami Makhlouf, became the country’s biggest businessman, heading a financial empire before the two had a falling out that led to Makhlouf being pushed aside.
Assad also increasingly entrusted key roles to his wife, Asma, before she announced in May that she was undergoing treatment for leukemia and stepped out of the limelight.
When protests erupted in Tunisa and Egypt, eventually toppling their rulers, Assad dismissed the possibility of the same occurring in his country, insisting his regime was more in tune with its people. After the Arab Spring wave did move to Syria, his security forces staged a brutal crackdown while Assad consistently denied he was facing a popular revolt, instead blaming “foreign-backed terrorists” trying to destabilize his regime.
His rhetoric struck a chord with many in Syria’s minority groups — including Christians, Druze and Shiites — as well as some Sunnis who feared the prospect of rule by Sunni extremists even more than they disliked Assad’s authoritarian rule.
Ironically, on Feb. 26, 2001, two days after the fall of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak to protesters and just before the wave of Arab Spring protests swept into Syria — in an email released by Wikileaks as part of a cache in 2012 — Assad emailed a joke he’d run across mocking the Egyptian leader’s stubborn refusal to step down.


Opposition fighters are at Damascus’ gates. Who are they and what now?

Opposition fighters are at Damascus’ gates. Who are they and what now?
Updated 08 December 2024
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Opposition fighters are at Damascus’ gates. Who are they and what now?

Opposition fighters are at Damascus’ gates. Who are they and what now?
  • Opposition fighters entered Syria’s capital as Assad fled country

Opposition fighters have entered Syria’s capital in a swiftly developing crisis that has taken much of the world by surprise. Syria’s army has abandoned key cities with little resistance. President Bashar Assad has now left the country.

Who are these opposition fighters?

If they take control of Damascus after seizing some of Syria’s largest cities, what then?
Here is a look at the stunning reversal of fortune for Assad and the government in just the past 10 days, and what might lie ahead as Syria’s 13-year civil war reignites.
The aim? Overthrow the government
This is the first time that opposition forces have reached the outskirts of the Syrian capital since 2018, when the country’s troops recaptured the area following a yearslong siege.
The approaching fighters are led by the most powerful insurgent group in Syria, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, along with an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. Both have been entrenched in the northwest. They launched the shock offensive on Nov. 27 with gunmen capturing Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, and the central city of Hama, the fourth largest.
The HTS has its origins in Al-Qaeda and is considered a terrorist organization by the US and the United Nations. But the group said in recent years it cut ties with Al-Qaeda, and experts say HTS has sought to remake itself in recent years by focusing on promoting civilian government in their territory as well as military action.
HTS leader Abu Mohammed Al-Golani told CNN in an exclusive interview Thursday from Syria that the aim of the offensive is to overthrow Assad’s government.
Possible rifts ahead
The HTS and Syrian National Army have been allies at times and rivals at times, and their aims might diverge.
The Turkish-backed militias also have an interest in creating a buffer zone near the Turkish border to keep away Kurdish militants at odds with Ankara. Turkiye has been a main backer of the fighters seeking to overthrow Assad but more recently has urged reconciliation, and Turkish officials have strongly rejected claims of any involvement in the current offensive.
Whether the HTS and the Syrian National Army will work together if they succeed in overthrowing Assad or turn on each other again is a major question.
Others take advantage
While the flash offensive against Syria’s government began in the north, armed opposition groups have also mobilized elsewhere.
The southern areas of Sweida and Daraa have both been taken locally. Sweida is the heartland of Syria’s Druze religious minority and had been the site of regular anti-government protests even after Assad seemingly consolidated his control over the area.
Daraa is a Sunni Muslim area that was widely seen as the cradle of the uprising against Assad’s rule that erupted in 2011. Daraa was recaptured by Syrian government troops in 2018, but rebels remained in some areas. In recent years, Daraa was in a state of uneasy quiet under a Russian-mediated ceasefire deal.
And much of Syria’s east is controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led group backed by the United States that in the past has clashed with most other armed groups in the country.
Syria’s government now has control of only three of 14 provincial capitals: Damascus, Latakia and Tartus.
What’s next?
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.
And Syrian troops withdrew Saturday from much of the central city of Homs, Syria’s third largest, according to a pro-government outlet and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. If that city is captured, the link would be cut between Damascus, Assad’s seat of power, and the coastal region where he enjoys wide support.
“Homs to the coastal cities will be a very huge red line politically and socially. Politically, if this line is crossed, then we are talking about the end of the entire Syria, the one that we knew in the past,” said a Damascus resident, Anas Joudeh.
Assad appears to be largely on his own as allies Russia and Iran are distracted by other conflicts and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah has been weakened by its war with Israel, now under a fragile ceasefire.
The UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, seeks urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition,” saying the situation is changing by the minute. He met with foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkiye and Iran on the sidelines of the Doha Summit.


Assad has left Damascus, say senior army officers; Syria rebels say they are in capital

 Assad has left Damascus, say senior army officers; Syria rebels say they are in capital
Updated 08 December 2024
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Assad has left Damascus, say senior army officers; Syria rebels say they are in capital

 Assad has left Damascus, say senior army officers; Syria rebels say they are in capital
  • Thousands of Syrians in cars and on foot arrive at main square in Damascus, demanding freedom 
  • On Saturday, rebels announced they had seized key city of Homs after entire day of fierce fighting 

AMMAN/BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar Assad boarded a plane and left Damascus for an unknown destination on Sunday, two senior army officers told Reuters, as rebels said they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments.
Thousands in cars and on foot congregated at a main square in Damascus waving and chanting “Freedom,” witnesses said.
“We celebrate with the Syrian people the news of freeing our prisoners and releasing their chains and announcing the end of the era of injustice in Sednaya prison,” said the rebels.

Syrian opposition fighters ride along the streets in the aftermath of the opposition's takeover of Hama, Syria, on December 6, 2024. (AP)

Sednaya is a large military prison on the outskirts of Damascus where the Syrian government detained thousands.
Just hours earlier, rebels announced they had gained full control of the key city of Homs after only a day of fighting, leaving Assad’s 24-year rule dangling by a thread.
Intense sounds of shooting were heard in the center of Damascus, two residents said on Sunday, although it was not immediately clear what the source of the shooting was.
In rural areas southwest of the capital, local youths and former rebels took advantage of the loss of authority to come to the streets in acts of defiance against the Assad family’s authoritarian rule.
Thousands of Homs residents poured onto the streets after the army withdrew from the central city, dancing and chanting “Assad is gone, Homs is free” and “Long live Syria and down with Bashar Assad.”

Syrian opposition fighters remove a government Syrian flag from an official building in Salamiyah, east of Hama in Syria on December 7, 2024. (AP)

Rebels fired into the air in celebration, and youths tore down posters of the Syrian president, whose territorial control has collapsed in a dizzying week-long retreat by the military.
The fall of Homs gives the insurgents control over Syria’s strategic heartland and a key highway crossroads, severing Damascus from the coastal region that is the stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect and where his Russian allies have a naval base and air base.
Homs’ capture is also a powerful symbol of the rebel movement’s dramatic comeback in the 13-year-old conflict. Swathes of Homs were destroyed by gruelling siege warfare between the rebels and the army years ago. The fighting ground down the insurgents, who were forced out.
Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham commander Abu Mohammed Al-Golani, the main rebel leader, called the capture of Homs a historic moment and urged fighters not to harm “those who drop their arms.”

Residents celebrate in the Syrian city of Salamiyah in the Hama governorate, days after anti government forces captured and took control of the area, on December 7, 2024. (AFP)

Rebels freed thousands of detainees from the city prison. Security forces left in haste after burning their documents.
Residents of numerous Damascus districts turned out to protest Assad on Saturday evening, and security forces were either unwilling or unable to clamp down.
Syrian rebel commander Hassan Abdul Ghani said in a statement early Sunday that operations were ongoing to “completely liberate” the countryside around Damascus and rebel forces were looking toward the capital.
In one suburb, a statue of Assad’s father, the late President Hafez Assad, was toppled and torn apart.

A boy steps over pictures of Syrian President Bashar Assad and his late father, Hafez Assad, right, Salamiyah, east of Hama in Syria, on December 7, 2024. (AP)

The Syrian army said it was reinforcing around Damascus, and state television reported on Saturday that Assad remained in the city.
Outside the city, rebels swept across the entire southwest over 24 hours and established control.
The fall of Homs and threat to the capital pose an immediate existential danger to the Assad dynasty’s five-decade reign over Syria and the continued influence there of its main regional backer, Iran.
The pace of events has stunned Arab capitals and raised fears of a new wave of regional instability.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Turkiye and Russia issued a joint statement saying the crisis was a dangerous development and calling for a political solution.

A view shows a damaged poster of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo, after the Syrian army said that dozens of its soldiers had been killed in a major attack by rebels who swept into the city, in Syria November 30, 2024. (REUTERS)

But there was no indication they agreed on any concrete steps, with the situation inside Syria changing by the hour.
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 neighboring states.
Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the strongest rebel group, is the former Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria regarded by the US and others as a terrorist organization, and many Syrians remain fearful it will impose draconian Islamist rule.
Golani has tried to reassure minorities that he will not interfere with them and the international community that he opposes Islamist attacks abroad. In Aleppo, which the rebels captured a week ago, there have not been reports of reprisals.
When asked on Saturday whether he believed Golani, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov replied, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group withdrew from the Syrian city of Qusayr on the border with Lebanon before rebel forces seized it, Syrian army sources said on Sunday.
At least 150 armored vehicles carrying hundreds of Hezbollah fighters left the city, long a point on the route for arms transfers and fighters moving in and out of Syria, the sources said. Israel hit one of the convoys as it was departing, one source said.
Assad long relied on allies to subdue the rebels. Russian warplanes conducted bombing while Iran sent allied forces including Hezbollah and Iraqi militia to reinforce the Syrian military and storm insurgent strongholds.
But Russia has been focused on the war in Ukraine since 2022 and Hezbollah has suffered big losses in its own gruelling war with Israel, significantly limiting its ability or that of Iran to bolster Assad.
US President-elect Donald Trump has said the US should not be involved in the conflict and should “let it play out.”


Bashar Assad flees Syria as militants enter Damascus

Bashar Assad flees Syria as militants enter Damascus
Updated 08 December 2024
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Bashar Assad flees Syria as militants enter Damascus

Bashar Assad flees Syria as militants enter Damascus
  • Syrian government appears to have fallen in stunning end to 50-year rule of Assad family
  • The pace of events has stunned Arab capitals and raised fears of a new wave of regional instability

AMMAN/BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar Assad flew out of Damascus for an unknown destination on Sunday, two senior army officers said, as militants announced they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments.

Thousands in cars and on foot congregated at a main square in Damascus waving and chanting “Freedom,” witnesses said.

“We celebrate with the Syrian people the news of freeing our prisoners and releasing their chains and announcing the end of the era of injustice in Sednaya prison,” said the militants.

Sednaya is a large military prison on the outskirts Damascus where the Syrian government detained thousands.

A Syrian Air plane took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by militants, according to data from the Flightradar website.

The aircraft initially flew toward Syria’s coastal region, a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect, but then made an abrupt U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing off the map.

Reuters could not immediately ascertain who was on board.

Official institutions in Damascus to remain under the prime minister

The leader of Syrian militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani, ordered forces Sunday not to approach official institutions in Damascus, saying they would remain under the prime minister until they are “officially” handed over.

“To all military forces in the city of Damascus, it is strictly forbidden to approach public institutions, which will remain under the supervision of the former prime minister until they are officially handed over,” Jolani said in a statement on Telegram, using his real name Ahmed Al-Sharaa instead of his nom de guerre, and adding: “It is forbidden to shoot into the air.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Jalali said Sunday he was ready to “cooperate” with any leadership chosen by the people.

In a speech broadcast on his Facebook account, premier Jalali said “this country can be a normal country that builds good relations with its neighbors and the world.”
“But this issue is up to any leadership chosen by the Syrian people. We are ready to cooperate with it (that leadership) and offer all possible facilities,” he added.
Jalali said he was “ready for any handover procedures.”

Just hours earlier, militants announced they had gained full control of the key city of Homs after only a day of fighting, leaving Assad’s 24-year rule dangling by a thread.

Intense sounds of shooting were heard in the center of the Damascus, two residents said on Sunday, although it was not immediately clear what the source of the shooting was.

In rural areas southwest of the capital, local youths and former militants took advantage of the loss of authority to come to the streets in acts of defiance against the Assad family’s authoritarian rule.

Thousands of Homs residents poured onto the streets after the army withdrew from the central city, dancing and chanting “Assad is gone, Homs is free” and “Long live Syria and down with Bashar Assad.”

Militants fired into the air in celebration, and youths tore down posters of the Syrian president, whose territorial control has collapsed in a dizzying week-long retreat by the military.

The fall of Homs gives the insurgents control over Syria’s strategic heartland and a key highway crossroads, severing Damascus from the coastal region that is the stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect and where his Russian allies have a naval base and air base.

Homs’ capture is also a powerful symbol of the militant movement’s dramatic comeback in the 13-year-old conflict. Swathes of Homs were destroyed by gruelling siege warfare between the militants and the army years ago. The fighting ground down the insurgents, who were forced out.

Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham commander Abu Mohammed Al-Golani, the main militant leader, called the capture of Homs a historic moment and urged fighters not to harm “those who drop their arms.”

Militants freed thousands of detainees from the city prison. Security forces left in haste after burning their documents.

Syrian militant commander Hassan Abdul Ghani said in a statement early Sunday that operations were ongoing to “completely liberate” the countryside around Damascus and militant forces were looking toward the capital.

Existential threat to region

The pace of events has stunned Arab capitals and raised fears of a new wave of regional instability.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Turkiye and Russia issued a joint statement saying the crisis was a dangerous development and calling for a political solution.

But there was no indication they agreed on any concrete steps, with the situation inside Syria changing by the hour.

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 neighboring states.

Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the strongest militant group, is the former Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria regarded by the US and others as a terrorist organization, and many Syrians remain fearful it will impose draconian Islamist rule.

Golani has tried to reassure minorities that he will not interfere with them and the international community that he opposes Islamist attacks abroad. In Aleppo, which the militants captured a week ago, there have not been reports of reprisals.

When asked on Saturday whether he believed Golani, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov replied, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group withdrew from the Syrian city of Qusayr on the border with Lebanon before militant forces seized it, Syrian army sources said on Sunday.

At least 150 armored vehicles carrying hundreds of Hezbollah fighters left the city, long a point on the route for arms transfers and fighters moving in and out of Syria, the sources said. Israel hit one of the convoys as it was departing, one source said.

Allies’ role in supporting Assad

Assad long relied on allies to subdue the militants. Russian warplanes conducted bombing while Iran sent allied forces including Hezbollah and Iraqi militia to reinforce the Syrian military and storm insurgent strongholds.

But Russia has been focused on the war in Ukraine since 2022 and Hezbollah has suffered big losses in its own gruelling war with Israel, significantly limiting its ability or that of Iran to bolster Assad.

US President-elect Donald Trump has said the US should not be involved in the conflict and should “let it play out.”