fall of the city of Hama c confirms the signs collapse of the Syrian army and his failure to respond with an effective counteroffensive. Syrian regular troops are demoralized and unmotivated, they are retreating randomly and abandoning weapons and equipment.

Instead Jihadist fighters and the rebels are highly motivated and well organized, and have complex weaponsincluding attack and surveillance drones.

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Overthrow the Assad regime

Capturing Hama increases dramatic scenarios for the Syrian authorities. The city is located 180 kilometers from Damascus, and the road to the capital is now blocked by the only city – Homs, located 46 kilometers away. Anticipating the advance of anti-government forces towards Homs, Russian aircraft destroyed the bridge on Thursday which linked the province of Homs with Hama.

The leader of the Islamist rebels in Syria assured that The “goal” of the lightning attack on the country is to “overthrow” the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.. “When we talk about goals, the goal of the revolution is to overthrow this regime. We have the right to use any means necessary to achieve this goal,” Abu Mohammed al Yolani told CNN in an interview published Friday.

The fighting has already begun 280 thousand people displaced from November 27, the UN said on Friday, fearing the figure could rise to 1.5 million. “This is an updated figure as of yesterday evening. And this does not take into account the number of people who fled Lebanon. during the recent escalation of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, Samer Abdel-Jaber, director of emergency coordination at the World Food Programme, said at a press conference in Geneva.

Great concern in Lebanon

But the rapid advance of radical Islamist groups is also causing great concern in Lebanon, as Homs province is located 50 kilometers from the Lebanese border. To the north it borders the Sunni region, where some of its inhabitants They sympathize with the Syrian rebel and jihadist movements.. Further south it borders a predominantly Shia region loyal to Hezbollahfought on the side of the Syrian army. The convergence of jihadist and rebel groups thus risks reigniting the conflict. Tensions between Sunnis and Shiites in Lebanon.

Aware of these dangers, the Lebanese army announced that it increased its presence along the border. But it is underfunded and understaffed, especially since it must deploy 6,000 troops in southern Lebanon as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel.

Who controls what?

Until November 27, a week ago, a rebel coalition led by an Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham was held in Idlib province along with many displaced people who fled after the regime took over much of the country in 2016. Within a week this coalition overthrew the regime and took control of the Aleppo region.before continuing south and entering Hama on Thursday. These are two of the four largest cities in Syria, both on the road to Damascus.

Another simultaneous conflict is between pro-Turkish forces united under the name Syrian National Army already in Democratic forces Syria (SDS)predominantly Kurdish. North of Aleppo, a coalition of rebel groups backed by Ankara controls a strip of territory along the Turkish border. Its main enemy is the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). They control all of northeastern Syria.

In the face of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham SDF offensive They left the area of ​​territory they controlled. north of Aleppo. Clashes with the pro-Turkish group continue to occur. Syrian Kurdish authorities are concerned about a possible attack on the major city of Manbij.

RFI