The net around Syrian President Assad is closing quickly: soldiers are defecting and Russia is doing little

The net is quickly closing around Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Insurgents have now advanced to the suburbs of the capital Damascus. The Syrian army withdrew last 24 hours largely back from the regions south of Damascus. Rebels then saw the opportunity to advance mainly from the south.

In Damascus itself, where no fighting has taken place in the area since 2018, tension is rapidly increasing. Many people have started hoarding and according to residents, there is now not much available in food stores. It is also said that a switch to a rationing system has already taken place. Others try to flee to Lebanon, among other places.

Reports from suburbs such as Harasta and eastern Houtha confirmed on Saturday afternoon that the rebels are now in control there too after Assad’s soldiers withdrew from there. In another suburb, Jarmana, just three kilometers from Damascus, local residents gathered a statue of Assad’s father Hafez, who ruled Syria with an iron fist from 1971 until his death in 2000 before his son Bashar took over. Similar scenes previously took place in the city of Hama, captured on Thursday.

Wealthy businessmen

Syrian state media meanwhile denied rumors that President Assad himself has fled abroad, as the situation for him and his remaining supporters becomes increasingly dire. According to them, he still lives in Damascus. However, wealthy businessmen who were close to the regime have reportedly now fled to Lebanon, among other places.

In the north, fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a fundamentalist Sunni group that has presented itself as moderate in recent years, have entered the outskirts of the city of Homs. That city is close to the heartland of the Alawites, the Islamic minority to which President Assad also belongs. In Homs at the moment according to various sources fought hard.

Elsewhere, however, there are increasing reports of government forces defecting to the rebels. Rebel leaders have also encouraged this and assured government soldiers that nothing will happen to them in such a case. At the border with Iraq, even 2,000 government soldiers, some of whom were injured, would have a safe escape in the neighboring country have searched.

Many soldiers also surrendered in the southern provincial town of As-Suwayda, after which local rebels became political prisoners released from the local prison. They let inmates who had committed ‘ordinary’ crimes. This was reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has an extensive information network in Syria at its disposal from Coventry, Britain.

Not much help

In addition to the disturbing news from the various front lines in Syria for Assad and his followers, there are also increasing indications that they cannot expect much help from abroad this time. On Saturday, the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran met in the Qatari capital Doha to discuss recent developments in Syria.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had little reassuring to say for his ally afterwards. Referring to HTS Lavrov merely communicated that “it is inadmissible for the terrorist group to gain control of the country.” But he left open how Russia would want to foil the latter at this late stage.

However, Lavrov stated that the three countries agreed that the current fighting must end as soon as possible. This seems to depend, among other things, on Turkey, which, according to most analysts, has supported HTS and other rebels so far.

The incoming American president Donald Trump also contributed from Paris, where he attended the reopening of the restored Notre Dame. In a message on X he stated that the United States should under no circumstances intervene in the current conflict in Syria. “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT RAGE OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED,” he wrote in capital letters.

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