Syrian rebels enter key city of Homs as protesters topple former Prez’s statue – The Tribune

Syrian rebels entered suburbs of the key city of Homs on Saturday, sources said, pressing a lightning week-long advance as front lines collapse across the country and government forces battle to save President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule.

A Homs resident, and army and rebel sources said the insurgents had breached government defences from the north and east of the city. The Syrian military did not immediately comment on the reports.

Fighting has raged around the north of vital Homs since late Friday with government forces reinforcing and using intense airstrikes to hammer the rebels. Insurgents also seized almost the entire southwest within 24 hours and advanced to within 30 km (20 miles) of Damascus as government forces fell back, rebels said.

Underscoring the possibility of an uprising in the capital, protesters in a Damascus suburb tore down a statue of Assad’s father and ripped it to pieces. In other suburbs soldiers changed into civilian clothes and deserted their posts, residents said.

Assad remains in Damascus, Syria’s state news agency said.

Since the rebels’ sweep into Aleppo a week ago, government defences have crumbled at dizzying speed as insurgents seized a string of major cities and rose up in places where the rebellion had long seemed over.

The twin threats to strategically vital Homs and the capital Damascus now pose an existential threat to Assad’s decades of rule in Syria and the continued influence there of his main regional backer Iran.

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

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

Meanwhile, protesters brought down the statue of former President Hafez al-Assad, the late father of President Bashar al-Assad in a main square in Jermana suburb, 10-km from the centre of Damascus, a witness and activists told Reuters.