Rebel forces appear to have entered the Syrian capital Damascus, a resident told Reuters. CNNwhile the Assad regime’s defenses show signs of collapse.
“The rebels are in Barzeh,” a neighborhood within the city of Damascus, the resident told CNNadding that fighting was taking place there.
“I saw rebel fighters moving through the inner alleys of Barzeh towards Police Club Street, and I can hear very loud sounds of clashes. The electricity has been cut, the internet is very weak and people are staying in their homes.”
“Militarily, Damascus has fallen,” said a source familiar with the rebels’ advance to CNN.
but were unable to find him, the source added.
They have entered Damascus and are occupying key positions in “strategic locations”, the source said.
The rebels say they are in contact with senior elements of the Assad regime who are considering defecting.
During the day, anti-regime forces advanced from the north, south and east toward Damascus, reaching suburbs less than five miles — and in one case, just one mile — from the center of the Syrian capital.
Understand the conflict in Syria
the Arab Spring in 2011, when the regime suppressed a pro-democracy uprising.
The country was plunged into full-scale conflict when a rebel force was formed, known as the Free Syrian Army, to fight government troops.
Furthermore, the Islamic State, a terrorist group, also managed to gain a foothold in the country and came to control 70% of Syrian territory.
Fighting escalated as other regional actors and world powers — from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United States to Russia — joined in, escalating the country’s war into what some observers described as a “proxy war.”
Russia has allied with Bashar al-Assad’s government to combat the Islamic State and rebels, while the United States has led an international coalition to repel the terrorist group.
After a ceasefire agreement in 2020, the conflict remained largely “dormant”, with minor clashes between the rebels and the Assad regime.
More than 300,000 civilians have been killed in more than a decade of war, according to the UN, and millions of people have been displaced across the region
