Russian residents who live in Syria needs to get away the lightning Islamist-led rebel offensive using any available business guest flights, the Russian Embassy in Damascussaid Friday.The Russian Embassy in Damascus advises Russian citizens living in the SAR [Syrian Arab Republic] of the possibility of leaving the nation using industrial flights through running airports, it said.In a declaration on its Telegram channel, the diplomatic objective explained the more than week-long rebel advance as a hard military and political situation in Syria.The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel alliance introduced its offensive on northern Syria on Nov.
27 seeking to overthrow Russian- and Iranian-backed President Bashar al-Assad.
In a little over a week and for the first time given that the Syrian civil war began in 2011, HTS captured Syrias second city Aleppo, along with the tactically situated city of Hama.The rebels just recently revealed on Telegram their capture of Hama following street battles with government forces, explaining it as the complete freedom of the city.A British-based war monitor that depends on a network of sources inside Syria stated HTS was now at the gates of Homs.
Syrias defense ministry denied claims that it had actually withdrawn its soldiers from Homs.The capture of Homs would imply cutting the seat of power in Damascus from the Mediterranean coast.The Russian embassy said it planned to continue working as typical despite the lightning Islamist rebel offensive.Open-source military analysts said satellite images revealed the Russian navy had evacuated its warships from its base in the port of Tartus.
Russia said it was conducting exercises in the eastern Mediterranean.The United Nations stated the violence has displaced 280,000 individuals, cautioning the numbers could swell to 1.5 million.AFP contributed reporting.