Damascus should fall, US officials say, as insurgents surround Syrian capital

Damascus is set to fall, three U.S. officials told CBS News, as Syrian insurgents have surrounded the capital in a rapid offensive. Syrian insurgents also claimed Sunday morning that they had captured the key city of Homs, in the center of the country.

Iranian forces defending Syrian President Bashar Assad have “virtually” been evacuated from Syria, U.S. officials said.

Syrian insurgents reached the suburbs of Damascus on Saturday in a rapid offensive that allowed them to take control of some of Syria's biggest cities, opposition activists and a rebel commander said Saturday.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition war monitor, said insurgents are now active in the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya . He added that on Saturday, opposition fighters were also marching from eastern Syria towards the Damascus suburb of Harasta.

An insurgent commander, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the messaging app Telegram that opposition forces had begun carrying out the “final stage” of their offensive by encircling Damascus. He added that the insurgents were heading from southern Syria towards Damascus.

Residents leave the city with their belongings after the opposition took Hama, Syria, Friday, December 6, 2024. Ghaith Alsayed / AP

Ghani said Sunday morning local time that insurgent forces had “completely liberated” Homs, Syria's third-largest city, Reuters reported. If they did succeed in seizing Homs, they would sever the link between Damascus, Assad's seat of power, and the coastal region where the president enjoys widespread support.

Its main international backer, Russia, is busy with its war in Ukraine, and Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah, which at one point sent thousands of fighters to bolster its forces, has been weakened by a yearlong conflict with Israel. Iran, meanwhile, has seen its proxies in the region degraded by regular Israeli airstrikes. The Israeli military said on Saturday that after armed individuals carried out an attack on a UN post in the Hader area, its troops were currently helping UN forces repel the attack.

On Saturday, President-elect Donald Trump commented on the situation on Truth Social, saying, “THE UNITED STATES SHOULD NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET HIM PLAY. DON'T GET INVOLVED!”

Three U.S. officials told CBS News that the al-Assad family's rule, which began in 1971, appears to be coming to an end.

How the conflict reignited

Thousands of people were fleeing the region amid the dramatic escalation of the civil war, which had simmered for years without major progress on either side until rebels launched a shock offensive about two weeks.

The rebels took full control of another town, Hama, and about a week later launched a large raid into the north of the country. The first major victory of their offensive was taking control of Aleppo a week ago, which has long been Syria's second most populous city.

HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani told CNN in an exclusive interview from Syria on Thursday that the aim of the offensive was to overthrow Assad's government.

The Syrian army withdrew from much of southern Syria on Saturday, leaving more parts of the country, including two provincial capitals, under the control of opposition fighters, the army and an observer said of the opposition. The redeployment of the southern provinces of Daraa and Soueida occurred as the Syrian army sent large numbers of reinforcements to defend Homs.

The Syrian army said in a statement on Saturday that it had carried out redeployment and repositioning in Soueida and Daraa after its checkpoints were attacked by “terrorists”. The army said it was establishing “a strong and coherent defensive and security belt in the region”, apparently to defend Damascus from the south.

Since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011, the Syrian government has described opposition gunmen as terrorists.

In gas-rich Qatar, the foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey were due to meet to discuss the situation in Syria. Turkey is a major backer of rebels seeking to overthrow Assad.

Qatar's top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to take advantage of a lull in fighting in recent years to address the country's underlying problems. “Assad has failed to take this opportunity to begin to engage and restore his relations with his people,” he said.

Sheikh Mohammed said he was surprised by how quickly the rebels had advanced and said there was a real threat to Syria's “territorial integrity”. He said war could “damage and destroy what's left if there is no sense of urgency” to start a political process.

After the fall of the cities of Daraa and Soueida early Saturday, Syrian government forces still control five provincial capitals: Damascus, Homs and Quneitra, as well as Latakia and Tartous on the Mediterranean coast.

Tartus is home to the only Russian naval base outside the former Soviet Union, while Latakia is home to a major Russian air base.

Fighters from the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Friday captured large parts of the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, which borders Iraq, as well as the provincial capital of same name. The capture of areas in Deir el-Zour is a blow to Iran's influence in the region, as this area is the gateway to the corridor connecting the Mediterranean to Iran, a supply line for Iranian-backed fighters, including Lebanese Hezbollah.

With the capture of a main border crossing with Iraq by the SDF and after opposition fighters took control of the Naseeb border crossing to Jordan in southern Syria, the only gateway to The Syrian government's gateway to the outside world is the Masnaa border crossing with Lebanon.

Margaret Brennan contributed to this report.

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