Syrian rebels claim to capture Homs, enter Damascus as President al-Assad reportedly leaves capital

The leader of Syria's main rebel group claimed that they had taken control of its third-largest city Homs, and have entered the capital city of Damascus as part of their ongoing offensive. As the rebel forces escalated their offensive, two senior Army officers told Reuters news agency that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had boarded a plane and departed from Damascus for an undisclosed destination.

Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani claimed that the capture of Homs was a "historic victory" and appealed to his followers not to hurt those who had chosen to surrender.

“Homs city is fully liberated," said Syria's main rebel group in the early hours of Sunday morning (Dec 8).

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However, the claims of Syrian rebels have not been confirmed at the time of writing this.

Quashing the reports of the fall of Homs as 'false', the Syrian defence ministry saidthe scenario in Homs was "stable and safe".

Also Read:Syrian conflict: Minister says military imposed cordon around Damascus

Syrian rebels made the announcement of the fall of Hama two days after spokesperson Lt. Col Hassan Abdel Ghani claimed that the rebel group had captured Hama, which is a city to the north of Homs.

Rebel forces 'enter Damascus' as regime's leaders consider to defect: Reports

As per CNN, the rebel forces have stormed intothe Syrian capital of Damascus as the collapse of Assad's regime appears to be near.

The rebel forces have also taken control of the radio and television building in the capital city, as per a report in Al Jazeera.

The rebels claimed they have been in touch with the senior leaders of the Assad regime who are thinking about defecting.

Earlier in a statement, Syria’s main rebel group said they will now focus on Damascus.

“We were able to liberate four Syrian cities within 24 hours: Daraa, Quneitra, Suwayda and Homs, and our operations are continuing to liberate the entire Damascus countryside, and our eyes are on the capital, Damascus,” said rebel spokesperson Lt. Col. Hassan Abdul Ghani on Sunday morning local time.

"Our forces have begun entering the capital Damascus," said the rebels on their Telegram channel.

Watch:Syrian Rebels Eye Damascus After Fall of Three Key Cities

Meanwhile, reconnaissance units entered the capital city overnight and failed to find President Bashar al-Assad, as per reports.

The people of Syria were also seen tearing down posters of President al-Assad which were very similar to the scenes that appeared during the Arab Spring. Videos shared on social media appeared to showmany of them cheering on the rebels as they entered the battle-torn cities.

US says 'not going to dive into' Syria's civil war

On Saturday (Dec 7), White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States is “not going to dive into” Syria's civil war.

“The United States is not going to dive into the middle, militarily dive into the middle, of a Syrian civil war. What we are going to do is focus on the American national security priorities and interests,” said Sullivan.

“The first, critically is, do not let this allow for the resurgence of ISIS [the Islamic State terror group], and we are going to take steps to make sure that that happens.

"Second, we do have a profound interest in shoring up the security of our partners in the region – Israel, Jordan, Iraq, others – we’ll do that.

"And third, we will attend to the humanitarian situation because we believe that we have an obligation to do that," he added.

There has been renewed fighting in the last few days in Syria’s civil war in which more than 300,000 people have lost their lives and around six million refugees have left the country since it started in 2011.

(With inputs from agencies)

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