ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Syrian rebels led by the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on Saturday announced that they had captured the southern city of Daraa, one of the key cities of the 2011 uprising, as the Syrian regime continues to collapse under the swift advance of rebel forces.
The operations rooms of the rebel forces announced on their channel on Telegram that “The city of Daraa is fully liberated from the grip of the criminal regime and its militias.”
Daraa is about 90 kilometers south of capital Damascus.
Damascus has yet to confirm the withdrawal from Daraa.
This comes as the Syrian regime swiftly loses grip on strategic cities, as rebel forces continue to advance towards Damascus from the north.
The rebels captured the strategic province of Hama on Thursday and surrounded the key province of Homs.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that “local factions have taken control of more areas in Daraa province, including Daraa city... they now control more than 90 percent of the province, as regime forces successively pulled out.”
Syria’s civil war was dramatically reignited last week when a coalition of rebels led by the Islamist HTS launched a blistering offensive against the Syrian army.