The Syrian Army shields Damascus with a security belt as southern rebels knock on its doors

Sources close to the conflict point out that Al Assad has ordered the withdrawal of his forces to the capital to buy time MADRID Dec. 7 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Minister of the Interior of Syria, Mohamed al Rahmun, confirmed this Saturday that the Syrian security forces have already surrounded the country’s capital, Damascus, with a security belt before the arrival of the rebels from the south of the country at the gates of the city.

“We have just established a very resistant military and security cordon on the outskirts of Damascus and its rural area. Right now no one can penetrate it,” he told Syrian state television.

The Syrian Army has two concerns about the city right now. First, the arrival of the rebels from the south, specifically from Daraa, Sueida and Tanf, who are approaching up to about 20 kilometers from the city after putting thousands of Syrian Army troops to flight.

In fact, the Iraqi Government has confirmed that nearly 2,000 Syrian soldiers have crossed the border between both countries in search of refuge from the offensive, Iraqi Government spokesman Basem Awadi confirmed to the Iraqi Kurdish news agency Rudaw.

However, it remains to be seen what happens with the most powerful opposition offensive: the one being undertaken from the north of the capital by the alliance led by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al Sham, which is currently near the city of Homs. 160 kilometers from Damascus. HTS, in this sense, has assured tonight that its forces have entered the city amid new denials from the Syrian Army.

In any case, the alliance of jihadists and Syrian rebels that has been advancing inexorably from the northwest of the country against the Al Assad forces for ten days has announced this Saturday the beginning of the “final stage” of its operations to surround the country’s capital. .

“Our forces have begun to launch the final stage of the siege of the capital. Damascus awaits us,” announced the leader of the HTS and leader of the offensive, Abu Mohamed al Golani.

ASSAD CORNERED

A few hours ago, residents of towns in rural Damascus told the DPA agency dpa that they had seen government troops retreating on foot towards the capital.

In the cities of Muadamiyat al Sham, Jaramana and Sahnaya there have been demonstrations by the local population in support of the opposition forces, which advanced towards the Syrian Army checkpoints.

Sources from the Bloomberg agency understand that this withdrawal is a direct order from Al Assad, who is ordering his Army to withdraw to defend Damascus in exchange for ceding the rest of the country to the insurgents.

The main reason, according to these sources, is to buy time: Al Assad has offered the United States the possibility of cutting all relations with the pro-Iran militias that campaign with the country in exchange for the Western powers, with Washington at the head, intervene to put an end to the rebel offensive.

These Bloomberg sources even speak of a second initiative by Al Assad through Hungarian President Viktor Orban to convey to him what he sees as an existential threat to Syria’s Christian minority if the Islamist rebels prevail. The intention was for Orban, an ally of Donald Trump, to convey this danger to the American president-elect.

Trump spoke this Saturday from Paris, where he attended the inauguration of the restored Notre Dame Cathedral, to warn that he will ignore any issue related to the Syrian crisis. The president-elect has concluded that Syria “is a disaster” and that, since it is “not a friendly country,” the United States “should have nothing to do with this.” “It is not our fight. Let what has to happen happen. Let’s not get involved,” he concluded.