Assad lost control over crossings to Iraq and Jordan. Russia called on its citizens to leave Syria

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed Kurdish-led coalition of anti-regime groups, captured the Bukamal crossing between Iraq and Syria in eastern Syria’s Deir ez-Zour province on Friday.

In the past, the crossing was used to transport fighters and weapons by Iraqi pro-Iranian militias, which are allies of the Syrian regime and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement. The SDF first gained full control over the regional city of Dayr al-Zaur on Friday after the Syrian army and Iraqi militia units withdrew from it. After occupying the city, located on the largest Syrian river, the Euphrates, they continued further east towards the Búkamál crossing, Reuters reported.

In the south of Syria, in the province of Daraa, on Friday, the rebels occupied the Nasib border crossing to Jordan. Shooting at Syrian army units, which later withdrew, was first reported in the area. Jordan closed the crossing on its side of the border. Traffic at the only crossing between the two countries was therefore interrupted, the AFP agency reported, citing information from the exiled Syrian Organization for Human Rights (SOHR). Rebels in the area also occupied the base of the Syrian army near the town of Herák.

Lebanese authorities announced the closure of all but one of the border crossings between Lebanon and Syria on Friday. They did so a few hours after the Israeli airstrike on the Arída crossing in northern Lebanon. In the past, Israel has attacked various Lebanese-Syrian crossings several times, claiming that Hezbollah uses them to smuggle weapons. The only open crossing is Masná on the highway between Beirut and Damascus. He was also the target of Israeli strikes in the past.

Last week, Islamist rebels from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group launched a successful offensive against the regime of President Assad. First, they conquered the important city of Halab (Aleppo) in two days, on Thursday they occupied another large city, Hama, and now, according to press agencies, they are standing in front of the gates of the city of Homs. They have already occupied the smaller towns of Rastan and Talbísa, which lie only a few kilometers north of the edge of Homs.

HTS is a radical Islamist group that emerged from the Syrian branch of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network. Its leader, Abu Muhammad Julani, has tried several times in recent days to assure the ethnic and religious minorities in Syria that they do not have to worry about the progress of the rebels and that their safety is guaranteed.

The forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad, supported by the Russian air force, have not yet been able to stop the progress of the rebels. Islamist militants, who have been occupying increasingly large areas in Syria in recent days, even occupied two air bases of the Syrian army equipped with Russian weapons. At the same time, the anti-regime forces do not hide the fact that their goal is Damascus and the overthrow of Assad. Even in the capital, according to BBC reporters, there is a strong sense of nervousness.

“The tension is everywhere; suddenly it seems very real to everyone. Even my pack of cigarettes has gone up in price since yesterday every time I bought it – three times in 24 hours,” said one local resident. On Friday, the Russian embassy in Damascus issued a call for Russian citizens to leave the country. In a statement on the Telegram network, the embassy mentions the “difficult military-political situation” in the country and reminds the Russians of the still existing possibility “to leave the country by commercial flights through the existing airport”.