The Islamic insurgents are advancing, having encircled Damascus and managed to take one suburb after another under their control.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told CBS that rebels are now operating in the suburbs of Damascus Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya.

Hassan Abdul-Ghani posted on the Telegram messaging app that opposition forces had begun to carry out the “final stage” of their attack by encircling Damascus, adding that rebels were moving from southern Syria towards Damascus.

“We are now on the threshold of Homs and Damascus and the overthrow of the criminal regime is close,” wrote Jolani who also pledged that any Syrian soldiers who surrendered to the rebels or did not participate in the fighting would be safe.

Earlier Ghani had said that the forces entered the city of Homs where they captured a camp and a number of villages.

According to Reuters, a resident of Homs and military and rebel sources said the rebels had breached government defenses from the north and east of the city.

In the latest development, rebel commander Hassan Abdul Ghani said on Saturday that his forces had captured a camp and a number of villages around the city of Homs.

According to Reuters, a resident of Homs and military and rebel sources said the rebels had breached government defenses from the north and east of the city.

At the same time, the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, considered a former branch of al-Qaeda, said it had a duty to protect the offices of government agencies, international organizations and the UN in Syria.

Since the rebel advance on Aleppo a week ago, government defenses have collapsed across the country at breakneck speed as opposition forces captured a number of major cities.

On the other side of the country, on the border with Iraq, dozens of Syrian soldiers crossed the Al Qaim border crossing and entered Iraqi territory, in coordination with the Iraqi army, local officials and security sources said.

Druze seized bases in Sweida

Druze militias have captured most of the Syrian army’s bases in Sweida province, which borders Jordan, leaving only one large base north of the city of Sweida, rebel sources told Reuters.

Khalhala Air Base, north of the city, remains under the control of the army and its forces are regrouping At the headquarters of the special forces unit, based in the town of Sweida, many deserted en masse, according to the rebels.

Hundreds of soldiers have taken refuge in Druze community centers, the same sources added.