Syrian Rebels Push South, Despite Efforts to Slow Them

Syrian rebels pushed further south on Friday toward the major city of Homs, edging another step closer to the capital, Damascus, in their dramatic offensive, according to the rebels and a war monitoring group.

Government forces scrambled to stop the rapid advance, which poses the most significant challenge in years to President Bashar al-Assad’s authoritarian grip on the country. They erected earthen berms and carried out airstrikes on a major highway as the rebels headed for Homs.

Mr. al-Assad’s forces were redeploying from other parts of the country to reinforce the most crucial government strongholds, including Damascus and Homs, according to the British-based war monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The sudden rebel advance was launched last week by a coalition of rebel groups headed by the Islamist faction Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. It has abruptly changed the landscape of Syria’s 13-year-old civil war after a long stalemate.