Syrian troops drove insurgents from central Homs on Monday, tightening their siege on remaining rebel bastions in the strategically important city, which links Damascus to the Mediterranean heartland of President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect.
The military’s gains in Khalidiya district follow a counter-offensive by Assad’s forces, which have pushed back rebels around the Syrian capital and retaken several towns near the border with Lebanon in the last few weeks.
“As of this morning the armed forces, in collaboration with the National Defence Force, took full control of Khalidiya,” an army officer said, referring to the NDF militia which has fought in the offensive, along with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.
“The fate of terrorists will be under our feet,” he said, claiming that all Homs will soon be “cleansed” of rebels.
Shattered, deserted ruins and weeds sprouting a metre high in the rubble-filled streets around him showed the scale of the destruction and neglect in a city which was once an industrial powerhouse in Syria.