Syria rebels now 6 MILES from capital after seizing major cities in lightning blitz as Assad regime faces total collapse

As their fast march continues, Syrian rebels have taken control of major cities and are now only six kilometers from the capital.

Rebels who claim control of the surrounding area are now attacking Damascus from the south.

Last week, the Islamist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HST), which is supported by Turkey, and its supporters attacked the government from the northwest of the nation.

However, in recent days, rebels from the south, referred to as the Southern Operations Room, have rebelled and attacked the north.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Bashar al-Assad’s family has gone to Russia, putting him in immediate danger from the southern rebels.

As regime forces retreat to Damascus, towns are being turned over to local rebels.

With his reign on the verge of collapse, Syrian dictator Assad, who in 2013 deployed nerve gas on his own people, currently controls only the west and center of the country.

On Friday night, government soldiers were able to return to Damascus after southern insurgents captured the important southern city of Daraa.

As government forces retreat, the rebels have continued to seize smaller towns and villages along the route to the capital yesterday and this morning.

Almost the whole southwest of Syria is now under rebel control, as is the country’s border with Israel.

The town of Zakyah, which is only 16 miles from Damascus, is also allegedly under the control of the southern rebels.

The Syrian military denied it was leaving the region around Damascus and claimed it was repositioning in the south without admitting it had lost territory.

According to a statement, “Our forces operating in Daraa and as-Suwayda implemented a redeployment, repositioning and established a strong and cohesive defensive and security cordon in that direction.”

However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said that government soldiers had withdrawn from the “entire surroundings of Damascus.”

The Syrian military has refuted reports that it is pulling out of the Damascus area.

The assertion was described by a spokesperson as a bogus media campaign by armed terrorist groups intended to instill fear and panic in the rural areas of Damascus.

Government defenses all around the nation have been disintegrating at an alarming rate since HTS’s invasion of Aleppoa a week ago.

In places like Daraa, the birthplace of the 2011 revolution, where the uprising had long appeared to be over, rebels resurfaced.

Statues, signs, and paintings representing the Assad family are being shot at and demolished in rebel-held cities.

HST is currently advancing on Homs, which was the target of a bloody three-year siege earlier in the civil conflict.

With state television and Syrian military sources reporting heavy airstrikes on rebel strongholds and a surge of reinforcements coming in to dig in around the city, government defenses are concentrated on Homs.

HST took control of the vital city of Hama on Thursday, which made it possible for them to proceed toward Homs and take control of the nation’s center.

Following the withdrawal of government troops to protect Homs, another rebel group has taken control of Palmyra, a historic desert city.

Rebels have also taken Deir al-Zor, a city in the east, from Assad.

Russia and Iran saved Assad earlier in the Syrian civil war by defeating the rebels with their air dominance and proxy forces.

However, according to Bloomberg, Vladimir Putin has no plan to save Assad and does not see one developing if government forces continue to surrender.

Although the Kremlin has provided Assad with airstrikes to counter this attack, it has too much stake in Ukraine to fully support its partner.

The fate of Russia’s two military installations in the nation, Tartus Naval Base and Khmeimim Air Base, is still unknown.

Russia says the withdrawal of its ships from Tartus, where its Mediterranean fleet is based, is for drills.

As another of its ally groups disintegrates, Iran has started to remove its military leaders from the nation.

Late Friday, HST rebels captured the final village on the northern outskirts of Homs, claiming to be “at the walls” of the city.

A resident of Homs told Reuters that although things had seemed normal until Friday, they had become increasingly tense due to the pro-Assad paramilitary groups erecting checkpoints and the audible sound of gunfire and bombings.

The individual stated: “They are sending a message to people to keep in line and that they should not get excited and not expect Homs to go easily.”

Damascus would be cut off from the coastal bastion of Assad’s minority Alawite sect if Homs, a crucial crossroads between the city and the Mediterranean, were taken.

After a night of heavy airstrikes on the insurgents, a Syrian military officer said that fighting had paused on Saturday morning.

According to neighbors and witnesses, thousands of people evacuated Homs in the direction of the regime strongholds of Tartus and Latakia on the coast before the rebel onslaught.

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