Chaos, that’s how the situation that prevailed in Syria on Saturday evening could be described succinctly. The Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) announced that it, together with affiliated armed groups, controls the entire province of Idlib and appears to be advancing or has already captured the city of Hama, which is halfway between Aleppo and Damascus. The Syrian army refutes this.
It is not clear where President Bashar Assad is. He was visiting Moscow and was supposed to return to Damascus on Saturday evening. The presidential office issued a stern statement only after the interview that Assad had with the representative of the United Arab Emirates.
“Syria continues to defend its stability and its territorial integrity against all terrorists and their supporters and is capable of defeating and neutralizing them with the help of its allies and friends, whatever the intensity of their attacks,” Assad said in a statement.
Syrian Islamists are still advancing. He reports the conquest of Idlib province
Near and Middle East
During the evening, social networks were filled with reports that there was a shooting in Damascus itself and that it was a coup. According to chargé d’affaires Roman Masařík, who is in charge of managing the Czech embassy in Damascus, with whom Deník N spoke on Saturday around nine o’clock in the evening, there is calm right in the Syrian capital.
“Of course, the situation is very unclear, because there are no official reports yet. As for the situation in Damascus, it is currently calm,” Masařík told Deník N.
It is uncertain how the situation will develop. Two Syrian military sources told Reuters on Saturday that Russia has promised Damascus additional military aid, which will begin arriving in the next 72 hours.
Aleppo again falls into the hands of the Islamists
Near and Middle East
