BEIRUT (Reuters) – Thousands of people fled the central Syrian city of Homs overnight and into Friday morning as opposition forces sought to launch a lightning attack on government forces to the south, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and residents said.
They have already captured key cities such as Aleppo in the north and Hama in the centre, and have dealt successive blows to President Bashar al-Assad, nearly 14 years after protests against him erupted across Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said thousands of people began fleeing on Thursday evening towards the western coastal areas, the government stronghold.
A resident of the coastal area said that thousands of people began arriving there from Homs, fearing the rapid advance of the opposition.
A Syrian army officer told Reuters that during this development, overnight Russian bombing destroyed the Rastan Bridge along the main M5 highway, the main road to Homs, to prevent rebels from using it.
He added: “There were at least eight strikes on the bridge.” He added that government forces were bringing reinforcements to locations around the city.
Opposition fighters led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham have vowed to advance south towards Homs, a crossroads city linking the capital Damascus to the north and Assad’s stronghold along the coast.
A rebel operations room urged Homs residents in an online post to rise up, saying: “Your time has come.”