Rebels enter Homs amid uncertainty over Assad’s location

• Syrian govt forces abandon Homs after brief fight.
• Rebels leader says ‘in final moments’ of Homs liberation.
• Assad’s absence from palace sparks question about his location.

Rebels have entered the city of Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, marking a significant shift in the country’s ongoing conflict as the country’s ruler is said to have fled the capital, a war monitor reported late Saturday. 

The government forces have abandoned the key city on Saturday after  a fight that continued for less than a day. A rebel leader, issuing a video message on Saturday, said that the rebels are “in the final moments of liberating” Homs.

Homs, located at a critical junction between Damascus and the Mediterranean coast, is a strategic prize in the years-long war.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated that rebel factions had seized control of several districts after government forces abandoned their last strongholds in the city.

“Rebel factions entered the city of Homs and took control of some neighbourhoods after the withdrawal of security forces and the army from their last positions,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

He also said that hundreds of detainees escaped from Homs’ central prison during the upheaval.

However, the Syrian defence ministry swiftly denied these claims. “The reports published by media platforms affiliated to terrorist organisations about the entry of terrorists into the city of Homs are baseless,” it said in a statement, adding that government forces are stationed around Homs on “solid defence lines.”

In a parallel development, speculation over the whereabouts of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is intensifying. CNN, citing sources, claims Assad is no longer in Damascus, though officials deny he has fled the capital.

The absence of Assad’s Presidential Guard from his usual residence has only fuelled questions about his location.