by Syrian and Russian air forces, artillery, missiles and armoured vehicles. Capturing Homs would solidify a chain of powerful positions under the Islamic insurgents’ control from Aleppo on the Turkish border in the north to Daraa on the Jordanian border to the south. Gaining Homs would also increase the rebels’ chances of isolating the seat of Assad’s regime in Damascus with the ability to block the route northwest from the capital to the sea. Rebels reenergised As the rebels pressed their offensive, Russia and Jordan on Friday urged their nationals to leave Syria. After years locked behind frozen front lines, rebel forces have burst out of their northwestern Idlib bastion to achieve the swiftest battlefield advance by either side since a street uprising against Assad mushroomed into civil war 13 years ago. Syria’s conflict killed more than 305,000 people between 2011 and 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Office said in 2022. Assad regained control of most of Syria after key allies — Russia, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah — came to his rescue. But all have recently been weakened and diverted by other crises, giving Sunni Muslim militants a window to fight back. Tehran, which has been focussed on tensions with arch-foe Israel since the Gaza war began last year, began to evacuate its military officials and personnel from Syria on Friday, a sign of Iran’s inability to keep Assad in power, the New York Times reported, citing regional officials and three Iranian officials. The head of the main rebel faction HTS, Abu Mohammed Al-Golani, vowed in a separate interview with the New York Times published on Friday that the insurgents could end Assad’s rule. “This operation broke the enemy,” he said of the rebels’ lightning offensive