SYRIAN rebels are now just six miles from the capital after seizing major cities as their lightning advance continues.
Damascus is now facing an attack from the south with rebels claiming to control countryside around the city.
Last week, the Turkish-backed Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HST) and its allies initiated an attack on the government from the northwest region of the country.
But southern rebels, who are known as the Southern Operations Room, have risen up over the past few days and have struck north.
The southern rebels now threaten Bashar al-Assad directly with the Wall Street Journal reporting his family has fled to Russia.
Towns are being handed over to local rebels as regime forces withdraw to Damascus.
Syrian leader Assad, responsible for using nerve gas against his citizens in 2013, currently maintains control over only the western and central parts of the nation as his authority is on the verge of complete collapse.
Southern militants took the major southern city of Daraa on Friday evening and allowed government forces to retreat back to Damascus.
In the past day and today, these rebels have persistently seized control of several smaller villages and towns along the route to the capital while government troops retreat.
Rebels now control Syria’s border with Israel and almost the entire southwest of the country.
The southern rebels claim to also hold the town of Zakyah, a mere 16 miles from Damascus.
The Syrian military said it was repositioning in the south, without acknowledging territorial losses, and denied it was withdrawing from areas near Damascus.
In a statement they said: “Our forces operating in Daraa and as-Suwayda implemented a redeployment, repositioning and established a strong and cohesive defensive and security cordon in that direction.”
But war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the “entire surroundings of Damascus” had seen the withdrawal of regime forces.
The Syrian military has denied the claim about withdrawing around Damascus.
A spokesperson labelled the claim “a false media campaign… by armed terrorist organizations… with the aim of spreading panic and fear among civilians in the Damascus countryside.”
Since HTS’ sweep into Aleppo a week ago, government defences have crumbled across the country at dizzying speed.
Rebels rose up in places where the rebellion had long seemed over, like Daraa – which was the cradle of the 2011 revolution.
In cities captured by the rebels, statues, signs, and paintings of the Assad family are being torn down and shot at.
Meanwhile, HST is now bearing down on the city of Homs – the site of a brutal three-year-long siege earlier in the civil war.
Government defences are focused on Homs, with state television and Syrian military sources reporting massive air strikes on rebel positions and a wave of reinforcements arriving to dig in around the city.
On Thursday, HST captured the key city of Hama allowing them to move further down the road towards Homs and capturing the centre of the country.
Another rebel group has seized the historic desert city of Palmyra after government troops withdrew to defend Homs.
Assad has also lost the eastern city of Deir al-Zor to rebels.
Earlier in Syria’s civil war, Assad was saved by Russia and Iran who used their proxy forces and air superiority to beat back the rebels.
But, Vladimir Putin doesn’t have a plan to save Assad and doesn’t see one emerging as government troops continue to give up the fight, Bloomberg reports.
The Kremlin has helped Assad with airstrikes to defend against this offensive, but it is too invested in Ukraine to throw much weight behind its ally.
It is not yet clear what will happen with Russia’s two military bases in the country: Khmeimim Air Base and Tartus Naval Base.
Russia has withdrawn its vessels from Tartus, the home of its Mediterranean fleet, but claims it is for exercises.
Meanwhile, Iran has begun to withdraw its military commanders from the country as another of its allied forces crumble.
HST rebels said they were “at the walls” of Homs after taking the last village on its northern outskirts late on Friday.
Inside Homs, a resident told Reuters the situation had felt normal until Friday, but had grown more tense with the sound of airstrikes and gunfire clearly audible and pro-Assad militia groups setting up checkpoints.
The resident said: “They are sending a message to people to keep in line and that they should not get excited and not expect Homs to go easily.”
Seizing Homs, a key crossroads between the capital and the Mediterranean, would cut off Damascus from the coastal stronghold of Assad’s minority Alawite sect.
A Syrian military officer said there was a lull in fighting on Saturday morning after a night of intense airstrikes on the rebels.
Ahead of the rebel advance, thousands of people fled Homs towards the coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus, strongholds of the government, residents and witnesses said.
