The rebels are rapidly advancing south towards the city of Homs, a strategically important center in Syria. Against this background, Iran is going to send weapons to Assad.
This is reported by Reuters.
"It is quite likely that Tehran will have to send military equipment, missiles and drones to Syria. Tehran has taken the necessary steps to increase the number of its military advisers in Syria and deploy forces. Tehran is currently providing the country with intelligence and satellite support," said an anonymous Iranian official.
Hezbollah sent a small number of "supervisory forces" from Lebanon on the night of December 6 to reinforce Assadʼs army. At the same time, the rebels said that they have taken control of the cities of Talbisa and Rastan and are several kilometers from Homs.
The situation near Homs, Syria, as of December 6.
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Homs is a strategic logistics center that connects the entire country and leads to the capital, Damascus. Main roads, oil and gas pipelines pass through it. The city is called the political fortress of Bashar al-Assad.
The capture of Homs would cut off Damascus from the coast, a longtime stronghold of the pro-regime Alawite community. It is also the location of Russian naval and air bases, writes Reuters.
According to the human rights group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group and its allies managed to take control of Ad-Dar al-Kabir, located about one kilometer from the military academy in Homs.
Information about explosions in the center of Damascus appeared on the network. The command of the Syrian Arab Army denied this and called the video of the explosions fabricated.
Assadʼs army assures that its soldiers are holding the defense in Homs. However, the Syrian Center for Monitoring Human Rights reports that government forces have withdrawn from Homs to its outskirts.
What preceded
Active clashes between the rebels and Syrian troops began on November 27. The offensive was launched by the Syrian Revolutionary Forces in "response to months of continuous attacks on civilians" by the Assad regime in Aleppo province. It was the most intense fighting in northwest Syria since 2020, when government forces seized areas previously controlled by opposition fighters. It is also the biggest advance by opposition fighters on the city since they were pushed out of the eastern districts in 2016.
On November 30, the Syrian Armed Forces declared a "temporary withdrawal" from Aleppo to prepare for a counteroffensive against opposition groups. As early as December 1, the media reported that the Assadʼs Forces had lost control of Aleppo — for the first time since the beginning of the military conflict that began more than ten years ago.
Ukrainian intelligence says that Russian troops are suffering losses during the fighting in Syria. Against this background, the Russian Federation changed the commander of forces in the region — he became General Oleksandr Chaiko, who commanded a group of Russian troops in Syria in 2017-2019. GUR noted that it currently knows about "hundreds" of Russians who are considered missing there.
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