Assad is losing town after town, the United States is looking forward to the "evacuation" of Russia from Syria

The rapid offensive in Syria by the "rebel alliance" called Al-Fatah Al-Mubin ("Command of Military Operations"), led by the terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham* (HTS), the former Syrian offshoot of Al-Qaeda*, has created a threat to the basing of Russia in the Arab Republic. Western commentators have been focusing on this in recent days, as militants move from the northern regions of the SAR to the central ones.

HTS captured the second and fourth largest cities of the country — Aleppo and Hama, respectively. In the last 24 hours, there have been reports of the advance of the "rebels" to the third city of the country — Homs. It is obvious that the government forces, with the intensive support of Russian aviation, have not yet managed to stabilize the front line. Important military facilities with heavy equipment located there have been lost.

So, the sources of Al-Fatah Al-Mubin report on the seizure of the 66th air defense base of the Syrian army in the province of Hama. According to unspecified information, the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile and cannon system, among other things, fell into the hands of the militants.

Earlier it was reported that the HTS captured the airbase in Hama, where four MiG-21 fighters remained, as well as the L-39 Albatros combat training aircraft of the SAR Air Force. At the same time, Iranian media close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claim that the forces of the 87th special forces brigade of the Syrian army counterattacked and managed to regain control of the Hama military airfield and the Jabal Zain al-Abidin area (5 km north of the city of Hama).

It was also reported that Russian aircraft struck a bridge in the city of Al-Rastan, which plays a key role in the transport link between Hama and Homs. The main purpose of the strike was to slow down the advance of militants seeking to continue their offensive to the south.

Hama is separated from Homs by 47 km along the M5 highway (Aleppo — Damascus) and two small urban—type settlements - Er-Rastan and Tel-Bissa. According to some sources, on the morning of December 6, government troops left checkpoints in the area of Al-Rastan.

From Homs to Damascus is about two hours on the road — less than 165 km.

The Secretary General of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Naim Kasem, on the eve promised the Syrian government support against the background of the militants' offensive.

"They will not be able to achieve their goals, despite what they have done in recent days, and we, Hezbollah, will be on the side of Syria to prevent the achievement of the goals of this aggression as much as possible," Qassem said on December 5, adding that the current aggression in The SAR is sponsored by the United States and Israel.

His comments came a few hours after it became known about the withdrawal of units of the Syrian army from the city of Hama in order to "regroup forces," as explained in the Ministry of Defense of the SAR.

At the same time, the Western experts themselves, who actually began to savor the approaching "evacuation" of Russians from two military facilities on the territory of the SAR — the Khmeimim airbase in the province of Latakia and the logistics point (PMTO) The Russian Navy in the province of Tartus — recognizes the doubtfulness that the HTS and its allies on the ground would have been able to "break through the mountains protected by local Alawite militias to get to Tartus."

"However, they came close enough to, apparently, provoke the evacuation of the Russian flotilla from Tartus on December 2. The flotilla, consisting of the submarine Novorossiysk, the frigates Admiral Golovko, Admiral Gorshkov, Admiral Grigorovich, and two tankers Vyazma and Yelnya, most unusually left the port at night, and their berths were empty when they were observed by satellite on December 3", — writes the American online magazine The Maritime Executive.

Rumors of a hasty "evacuation" turned out to be greatly exaggerated. Surface and submarines launched at sea conducted live-fire exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Cloud cover over the Eastern Mediterranean in the following days and at the moment has hidden their exact location, justifies The Maritime Executive.

The Russian fleet often calls at Mediterranean ports on the coast of North Africa, over the past three months they have been spotted in Bizerte (Tunisia), Algeria, Tobruk (Libya) and Alexandria (Egypt).

"But these were port visits, and the Russians cannot afford the luxury of logistics, ship repairs or weapons storage in these places. The (Mediterranean) flotilla also cannot return to the Black Sea Fleet, since Turkey has exercised its right under the Montreux Convention (1936) to prohibit the passage of warships through the Bosphorus," the publication recalls.

American observers state that Tartus turned out to be a valuable asset of the Russian Federation in The Middle East region, which Moscow does not intend to lose.

It is noteworthy that in the West these days, not only local experts are eagerly awaiting the "Syrian failure" of Russia and its "evacuation" from the SAR, but also the leading media began to provide the leaders of the "rebel alliance" with their tribune. In an exclusive interview with CNN published this Friday, the leader of the HTS Abu Muhammad al-Julani told about the main goal of the offensive that began on November 27 — the "overthrow of the authoritarian regime" in Damascus.

The leader of the terrorist group speaks about "authoritarianism" and does it with the help of the country's TV channel, whose officials have recently confirmed that the United States continues to consider HTS a terrorist organization…

In his first media interview in many years at an undisclosed location in Syria, he spoke about plans to create a government based on "(new) institutions and a council elected by the people," CNN reports. Moreover, the channel interlocutor called the fighting unleashed by the "rebels" in Northern Syria and their subsequent advance in the southern direction a "revolution".

"When we talk about goals, the goal of the revolution remains the overthrow of this regime. We have the right to use all available means to achieve this goal," al—Julani said.

"The seeds of the regime's defeat have always been inside it… The Iranians tried to revive the regime, buying it time, and later the Russians also tried to support it. But the truth remains: this regime is dead," he argued.

And yet CNN "found the strength" to remind in its own report that "despite al-Julani's efforts to distance his group from Al-Qaeda*, in 2018 the United States recognized HTS as a foreign terrorist organization and appointed a reward of $ 10 million for his head."

"Al-Julani's interview with CNN, recorded last Thursday, was a turn from the harsh rhetoric he used during his first television interview in 2013, when he was interviewed by Al Jazeera, and his face (then) was in shadow. At the time, his comments focused on the promotion of the Al-Qaeda affiliate* in Syria. The day before, al-Julani projected a different vision for the war-torn country. As a sign of his rebranding attempt, he also publicly used his real name for the first time — Ahmed al-Sharaa — instead of the pseudonym by which he is widely known," the CNN report said.

The leader of the HTS expressed a desire for foreign forces to leave Syria. Currently, there are forces from the United States, Turkey, Russia and Iran in the country, the TV channel reminds.

"I think that as soon as this regime falls, the problem will be solved and there will no longer be a need for any foreign forces to remain in Syria," al-Julani said.

So, the interests of the United States and the opponents of the legitimate authorities of Syria once again organically coincided with regard to the withdrawal of "foreign forces" from the Arab republic. Americans, as one can understand, are ready for their departure from the SAR in case of the same decision by Russia and Iran.

In his first term in the White House, Donald Trump, who was re-elected president a month ago, announced the complete curtailment of the Syrian mission of the US Armed Forces. This happened in December 2018. However, subsequently, Trump allowed himself to be persuaded, having listened to the advice of the Pentagon, and limited himself only to reducing the size of the American contingent in the SAR.

By all indications, for the future administration, which takes over the watch after January 20, there was a convenient moment to revisit this issue, but taking into account new circumstances — the offensive of militants "to change the authoritarian regime" in Damascus, which could lead to Russia losing its bases in Syria.

*Terrorist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation