A senior advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei met Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Friday, an Iranian lawmaker confirmed, amid reports that the Syrian president is desperately reaching out to his friends and foes to secure his grip on authority.
Ali Larijani, the senior Iranian politician who visited Syria last month as Khamenei's special envoy, travelled to Damascus and met Assad to express Tehran's full support for him, according to Iranian MP Yaghoub Rezazadeh and the state-run Al-Alam TV.
The meeting was held as rebels have captured several cities in the country's north, east and south including Homs, Hama, Aleppo, Deraa, and Deir ez-Zor. Opposition activists and a rebel commander said on Saturday that the armed rebels have reached the suburbs of Damascus
The insurgents were active in the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya, said Rami Abdurrahman, the head of UK-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Biden administration officials, watching the astonishing speed of the Syrian rebels' advance, increasingly see the possibility of Assad's government falling within days, CNN reported Saturday citing five US officials.
The advances come amid signs of reduced support for Assad from his key allies. Iranian-backed forces and the Syrian army have reportedly withdrawn from several positions, and there is little indication that Tehran is prepared to commit substantial forces to defend Assad.
Iran began to evacuate its military commanders and personnel including senior Quds Force commanders from Syria on Friday, New York Times reported, citing regional officials and three Iranian officials.
While the Syrian government insists that Assad is still in Damascus, CNN reported on Saturday that the Syrian president is not at any of the locations in Damascus where he is expected to be. "Assad’s Presidential Guard are no longer deployed at his usual place of residence, as they would be if he was there," the report said, citing informed sources.
Overture to Trump at the eleventh hour
Syria's longtime ruler is making a last-ditch attempt to remain in power, including indirect diplomatic overtures to the US and President-elect Donald Trump, Bloomberg reported on Saturday, citing people with direct knowledge of the situation.
He has told the US via the United Arab Emirates that he is ready to cut all involvement with Iran-backed militant groups, such as Hezbollah, should Western powers wield influence to stem the fighting.
In another initiative, Assad has dispatched a senior Christian leader to meet Hungarian President Viktor Orban, an ally of Trump, to relay what he sees as an existential threat to Syria’s Christian minority if Islamist rebels prevail.
"The intention was that Orban, a Trump ally, would convey this danger to the incoming US president," the Bloomberg report said, citing sources.
Earlier in the day, Trump said the US should not get involved in the conflict in Syria, as it is not the US' fight.
"Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social account.
