Thousands flee as Syrian rebels push on towards Homs

6/12/2024 16:59

Thousands of people fled the central Syrian city of Homs overnight and into Friday morning, a war monitoring group and residents said, as rebel forces sought to push their lightning offensive against government forces further south.



They have already captured the key cities of Aleppo in the north and Hama in the centre, dealing 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 had begun fleeing on Thursday night towards western coastal regions, a stronghold of the government.



A resident of the coastal area said thousands of people had begun arriving there from Homs, fearing the rebels' rapid advance.



On Friday morning, Israeli air strikes hit two border crossings between Lebanon and Syria, Lebanese transport minister Ali Hamieh said.



The Syrian state news agency (SANA) said the Arida border crossing with Lebanon was out of service due to the attack.