Syrian rebels close in on central city of Homs as thousands flee lightning advance
Syrian rebel forces are closing in on the central city of Homs as they push to take control of the country’s third-largest city, according to pro-government media and an opposition war monitor.
Insurgents in the Middle Eastern country entered the towns of Rastan and Talbiseh the day after they captured Syria’s fourth-largest city Hama.
It is part of a lightning offensive led by the jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), which said it will march on Homs and then the capital Damascus, where President Bashar al Assad has consolidated power.
Homs sits on a major crossroads in Syria, linking Damascus to the north and Syria’s Mediterranean coast provinces of Latakia and Tartus, where the majority back Mr Assad and where his ally Russia has a naval base and air base.
A map showing the advance of Syrian rebels towards Damascus
Insurgents have entered the towns of Rastan and Talbiseh
The capture of the two towns puts the rebels within three miles (5km) of Homs, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“The battle of Homs is the mother of all battles and will decide who will rule Syria,” said the monitor’s chief, Rami Abdulrahman.
An image of Syrian President Bashar al Assad riddled with bullets at the provincial government office building in Hama. Pic: AP
The insurgents entered the towns without any resistance, according to pro-government Sham FM.
State news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official saying Syrian and Russian air forces were attacking rebels in Hama province and had killed dozens of fighters.
The fall of Hama sent thousands of Homs residents loyal to Mr Assad fleeing towards Damascus and the coastal region, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Residents flee Hama with their belongings. Pics: AP
Future of Assad regime ‘all depends on Russia’
Whether or not Mr Assad’s regime falls now “all depends on Russia” and whether it continues to prop up the Syrian government, according to Dr Neil Quilliam, associate fellow at Chatham House.
He told Sky News that HTS had spent the last four years getting ready for its lightning campaign by “equipping, training and preparing itself”, in contrast to Mr Assad’s forces, which he said were “poorly resourced, poorly trained and demotivated”.
“Damascus is clearly in its sights and unless Russia comes in at the last minute, and given that the Russian embassy has told Russians to evacuate the country immediately, it seems that the regime may well fall,” he said.
“We could expect a much longer bloodier battle than we’ve seen at present,” he added. “I would think that the Assad regime will fall, but it all depends on Russia.”
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On Thursday a Syrian rebel who took part in the offensive on Hama told Sky News the fight to push on will continue.
“Just as we liberated Aleppo and now Hama, we will proceed to Homs, and Damascus, and Deir el Zor,” he said.
He also claimed to have received support from the people in Hama.
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Celebrations in Syrian city as govt driven out
Government forces’ withdrawal ‘a tactical measure’
Syria’s defence minister said the withdrawal of government forces from Hama was a tactical measure and vowed the government would win back the areas it had lost.
General Ali Mahmoud Abbas said in a televised statement late on Thursday the insurgents, who he described as “takfiri” or Muslim extremists, were being backed by foreign countries – in an apparent reference to Turkey – the main backer of the opposition – and the United States.
“We are in a good position on the ground,” General Abbas added, saying the Syrian army’s withdrawal from Hama was “a temporary tactical measure and our forces are at the gates of Hama”.
He made the remarks before the rebels marched south of Hama towards Homs.
Analysis: The immense significance of rebel offensive
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Syria rebels ‘backed by foreign countries’
Elite Hezbollah forces cross into Syria
Iran has provided significant support to Mr Assad during the country’s 13-year civil war.
Elite forces from the Tehran-backed group Hezbollah have crossed into Syria from Lebanon overnight to take up positions in Homs, a Syrian military officer and two regional officials told Reuters news agency.
Meanwhile the head of the US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces said the Islamic State group, which captured and ruled over large swathes of Iraq and Syria before it was defeated by a US-led coalition in 2017, had taken control of some areas in eastern Syria.
“Due to the recent developments, there is increased movement by Islamic State mercenaries in the Syrian desert, in the south and west of Deir el Zor and the countryside of al Raqqa,” said the head of the force, Mazloum Abdi, making reference to areas in the east of the country.
It comes after rebels led by HTS and Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army captured much of Syria’s largest city of Aleppo last weekend, reigniting Syria’s civil war, after front lines had largely remained unchanged over the last four years.
Mr Assad was able to cling to power largely through the help of his allies, Russia and Iran, though both countries and Hezbollah have been distracted by their own wars, with Russia preoccupied with its invasion of Ukraine since 2022 and Hezbollah in Lebanon suffering heavy losses in its war with Israel.
Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff has met Vladimir Putin for talks in Russia – as the US president called on Moscow to “get moving” with ending the war in Ukraine.
Mr Witkoff, who has been pressing the Kremlin to accept a truce, visited Mr Putin in St Petersburg after earlier meeting the Russian leader’s international co-operation envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
Mr Putin was shown on state TV greeting Mr Witkoff at the city’s presidential library at the start of the latest discussions about the search for a peace deal on Ukraine.
Before Friday’s meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov played down expectations of a breakthrough and told state media the visit would not be “momentous”.
Follow the latest updates on the war in Ukraine
However, Sky News Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett said he believes the meeting – Mr Witkoff’s third with Mr Putin this year – is significant as a sign of the Trump administration’s “increasing frustration at the lack of progress on peace talks”.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Trump issued his latest social media statement on trying to end the war, writing on Truth Social: “Russia has to get moving. Too many people ere [sic] DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war – A war that should have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were President!!!”
Dialogue between the US and Russia, aimed at agreeing a ceasefire ahead of a possible peace deal to end the war, has recently appeared to have stalled over disagreements around conditions for a full pause.
Mr Trump, pictured at a cabinet meeting at the White House earlier this week, has called for Russia to ‘get moving’. Pic: AP
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Secondary sanctions could be imposed on countries that buy Russian oil, Mr Trump has said, if he feels Moscow is dragging its feet on a deal.
Mr Putin has said he is ready in principle to agree a full ceasefire, but argues crucial conditions have yet to be agreed – and that what he calls the root causes of the war have yet to be addressed.
The Russian president wants to dismantle Ukraine as an independent, functioning state and has demanded Kyiv recognise Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and other partly occupied areas, and pull its forces out, as well as a pledge for Ukraine to never join NATO and for the size of its army to be limited.
Zelenskyy renews support calls after attack on home city
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Children killed in strike on Zelenskyy’s home town
Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has renewed his appeals for more Patriot air defence systems after the deaths of 20 people, including nine children, who were killed when a Russian missile hit apartment buildings and a playground in his home city of Kryvyi Rih last week.
Speaking online at a meeting of the so-called Ramstein group of about 50 nations that provide military support to Ukraine, named after a previous meeting at America’s Ramstein air base in Germany in 2022, Mr Zelenskyy said recent Russian attacks showed Moscow was not ready to accept and implement any realistic and effective peace proposals.
Mr Zelenskyy also made his evening address to the nation, saying: “Ukraine is not just asking – we are ready to buy appropriate additional systems.”
The UK’s defence secretary, John Healy, has said this is “the critical year” for Ukraine – and has confirmed £450m in funding for a military support package.
A family of five Spanish tourists, including three children, have been killed in a helicopter crash in New York City.
A New York City Hall spokesman identified two of those killed as Agustin Escobar, a Siemens executive, and Merce Camprubi Montal – believed to be his wife, NBC News reported.
The pilot was also killed as the aircraft crashed into the Hudson River at around 3.17pm on Thursday.
New York Police commissioner Jessica Tisch said divers had recovered all those on board from the helicopter, which was upside down in the water.
“Four victims were pronounced dead on scene and two more were removed to local area hospitals, where sadly both succumbed to their injuries,” she said.
The helicopter was submerged upside down in the Hudson. Pic: Reuters
A crane lifted out the wreckage on Thursday evening. Pic: AP
The Spanish president Pedro Sanchez called the news “devastating”.
“An unimaginable tragedy. I share the grief of the victims’ loved ones at this heartbreaking time,” he wrote on X.
Rotor blade ‘flew off’
The aircraft was on a tourist flight of Manhattan, run by the New York Helicopters company.
Witnesses described seeing the main rotor blade flying off moments before it dropped out the sky.
Agustin Escobar and Merce Camprubi Montal.
Pic: Facebook
Lesly Camacho, a worker at a restaurant along the river in Hoboken, said she saw the helicopter spinning uncontrollably before it slammed into the water.
“There was a bunch of smoke coming out. It was spinning pretty fast, and it landed in the water really hard,” she said.
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Witness saw ‘parts flying off’ helicopter
Another witness said “the chopper blade flew off”.
“I don’t know what happened to the tail, but it just straight up dropped,” Avi Rakesh told Sky’s US partner, NBC News.
Video on social media showed parts of the Bell 206 helicopter tumbling through the air and landing in the river.
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New York mayor confirms six dead
The crash happened near Pier 40. Pic: AP
New York Mayor Eric Adams confirmed the six deaths and said authorities believed the tourists were from Spain.
He said the flight had taken off from a downtown heliport at around 3pm.
Pic: Cover Images/AP
The crash happened close to Pier 40 and the Holland tunnel, which links lower Manhattan’s Tribeca neighbourhood with Jersey City to its west.
Tracking service Flight Radar 24 published what it said was the helicopter’s route, with the aircraft appearing to be in the sky for 15 minutes before the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have started an investigation.
Agustin Escobar.
Pic: Europa Press/AP
Thursday’s incident comes less than three month after 67 people died when an army helicopter and American Airlines jet collided over the Potomac River in Washington DC.
A former ballerina who spent more than a year in a Russian jail for donating £40 to a charity supporting Ukraine has returned home to the US after being freed in a prisoner exchange.
Ksenia Karelina landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland at around 11pm, local time, on Thursday.
A smiling Ms Karelina was greeted on the runway by her fiance, the professional boxer Chris van Heerden, and given flowers by Morgan Ortagus, President Donald Trump’s deputy special envoy to the Middle East.
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Ksenia Karelina arrives at Joint Base Andrews. Pic: AP
Van Heerden said in a statement he was “overjoyed to hear that the love of my life, Ksenia Karelina, is on her way home from wrongful detention in Russia.
“She has endured a nightmare for 15 months and I cannot wait to hold her. Our dog, Boots, is also eagerly awaiting her return.”
He thanked Mr Trump and his envoys, as well as prominent public figures who had championed her case, including Dana White, a friend of Mr Trump and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Ms Karelina, 34, a US-Russian citizen also identified as Ksenia Khavana, was accused of treason when she was arrested in Yekaterinburg, in southwestern Russia, while visiting family in February last year.
Investigators searched her mobile phone and found she made a $51.80 (£40) donation to Razom, a charity that provides aid to Ukraine, on the first day of Russia’s invasion in 2022.
She admitted the charge at a closed trial in the city in August last year and was later jailed for 12 years, to be served in a penal colony.
At a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Mr Trump, who wants to normalise relations with Moscow, said the Kremlin “released the young ballerina and she is now out, and that was good. So we appreciate that”.
Ksenia Karelina is hugged by her boyfriend, Chris van Heerden. Pic: Reuters
He said the release followed conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian security services accused her of “proactively” collecting money for a Ukrainian organisation that was supplying gear to Kyiv’s forces.
The First Department, a Russian rights group, said the charges stemmed from a $51.80 donation to a US charity aiding Ukraine.
Washington, which had called her case “absolutely ludicrous”, released Arthur Petrov, who it was holding on charges of smuggling sensitive microelectronics to Russia, in the prisoner swap in Abu Dhabi.
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Karelina was among a growing number of Americans arrested in Russia in recent years as tensions between Moscow and Washington spiked over the war in Ukraine.
Her release is the latest in a series of high-profile prisoner exchanges Russia and the US carried out in the last three years – and the second since Mr Trump took office.
White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said members of the Trump administration “continue to work around the clock to ensure Americans detained abroad are returned home to their families”.
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