Government forces lost control of most of Daraa province, the cradle of the country’s 2011 uprising, AFP reported. In neighbouring Sweida, the governor, police, prison chiefs and ruling Baath party leaders had fled their offices as rebel fighters took control of several key checkpoints.

“Our forces operating in Daraa and Sweida are redeploying and repositioning, and establishing a… security cordon in that direction after terrorist elements attacked remote army checkpoints,” the General Command of the Army and Armed Forces said in a statement.

In the strategic city of Homs, the insurgents breached the defences of government forces in the north and east of the city. The army’s statement said it was “beginning to regain control in Homs and Hama provinces in the face of terrorist organisations”.

Insurgents asserted that they were advancing towards Damascus, the country’s capital. A war monitor reported that the insurgents are just 20 km away from the capital city.

“There is a very strong security and military cordon on the far edges of Damascus and its countryside, and no one… can penetrate this defensive line that we, the armed forces, are building,” Interior Minister Mohammed al-Rahmoun told state media. Earlier, the state media also asserted that Assad remains in Damascus and has not fled the country.

Here are other top updates

• US President-elect Donald Trump said that Washington should not intervene in Syria and argued that Syrian President Bashar Assad did not deserve US support to stay in power. “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT”, said Trump on his Truth Social. He also added that pulling out from Syria “might be the ‘Best Thing’ for Russia”.
• Diplomacy gained pace on Saturday as the foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran, and Russia agreed in Doha to initiate a “political dialogue between the Syrian government and the legitimate opposition groups”.
• Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Syria must not be allowed to fall into the hands of “terrorist” rebels. “It’s inadmissible to allow the terrorist group to take control of the lands in violation of agreements which exist, starting with the UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which strongly reiterated sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of the Syrian Arab Republic,” Lavrov said.
• Qatar’s prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, said that Assad had failed to engage with his people and address issues like the return of refugees during a period of calm in the country’s civil war. Doha had supported the rebels in the wake of Assad’s crackdown in 2011.
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday he hopes neighbouring Syria “finds peace”. “Our wish is for our neighbour, Syria, to find the peace and tranquillity it has been dreaming of for 13 years,” said Erdogan. Turkey is believed to back the Syrian National Army, a jihadist outfit allied to HTS.
• The Israeli military said it was “assisting” a United Nations force in repelling an attack on a UN post in Syria’s Hader area, even as the Islamist rebel group said it has a duty to protect governmental, international and UN offices in the country.
• The United Nations special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, urged for calm amid rapid advances by Islamist-led rebels. “I reiterate my call for de-escalation, for calm, for the avoidance of bloodshed and the protection of civilians in line with international humanitarian law,” Pedersen said at the Doha Forum for political dialogue, urging “the start of a process that leads to the realisation of the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people”.

(With agency inputs)