Homs.. Why is it considered a “key city” in the Syrian conflict?

Recently, the factions said they were “at the gate hummus“, after controlling the villages near the city, which is the third largest city Syria.

Earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Sky News Arabia that the Syrian army had withdrawn from the city of Homs as militants approached it, but the army denied this.

Why is Homs considered a key city in the conflict? What does it mean that armed factions control it?

Homs is located in central Syria, between Damascus and the Syrian coast, which includes a Russian naval base in the Tartous Another airstrike is in Hmeimim, which is also the main point between areas controlled by armed factions and the capital.

Charles Lister, director of the Syria program at the Middle East Institute, says: “If Homs falls, . . . Damascus “It will be cut off from the coast, effectively splitting what remains under government control in two.”

Homs, with a population of more than 1.4 million people, is located on Syria’s M5 highway, about 40 kilometers south of Hama, which the factions seized control of on Thursday.

Homs is also located about 144 kilometers north of Damascus, the ultimate target of attacks by armed factions.

Last week, armed factions led by… Hai’at Tahrir al-Sham quickly captured the city of Aleppo and then moved on to control Hama.

In its latest report on the Syrian conflict, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said that “a rapid advance without fighting could help forces allied with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham close in on Homs.”

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham said on Friday it had taken control of two towns a few kilometers north of Homs, indicating a continued rapid advance towards the city.

He denied it Syrian army The withdrawal of his units near Homs, and he said in a statement on Friday that his forces were “fully prepared and ready to carry out their duties and face any terrorist attack.”

The army said on Friday evening that its forces were “conducting an operation towards al-Dar al-Kabir, Talbiseh and al-Rastan in the northern countryside of Homs, under the cover of the joint Syrian-Russian air force, weapons and armored vehicles.” “

The army added, according to official sources, that “the operation eliminated dozens of terrorists in a state of panic, confusion and mass flight among their ranks.”