Syria condemns rebel advance as regional threat
Syrian Foreign Minister Bassam Sabbagh said that Syria's armed forces were carrying out their national duty in "confronting this terrorist attack" referring to the rebel advance in parts of Syria which he said represented a serious threat to the region.
His comments came at a joint press conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Bagdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani and Hussein held meetings with both Sabbagh and Araqchi beforehand.
During the press conference Hussein condemned attacks by "terrorist entities" in Syria and Aragchi pledged to provide Syria with all the support it needed.
The Syrian rebels advancing in Syria, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, have disavowed Al Qaeda and IS and say they have no ambitions in Iraq, but ruling factions have little trust in those assertions.
Baghdad has amassed on its border with Syria thousands of fighters from its conventional military as well as the Popular Mobilization Forces.
"This serious terrorist threat does not only pose a threat to the security and stability of Syria but also to the security and stability of the countries of the region," said Sabbagh, sentiments also made by Iraq's Hussein.
Al-Sudani has tried desperately to avoid being dragged into spiralling regional conflict.
Syrian rebel commander Hassan Abdul Ghany urged top military officers to defect, in a video statement aired.
"I call on the minister of defense of the regime’s government, and all of the remnants of the criminal regime’s militias, to listen to the voice of reason and learn from the fate of the officers and militias who preceded them in Aleppo and Hama, and to defect from this gang that has linked the fate of an entire people to the fate of the members of the ruling family, or else await your own fate," he said.
The deployments come as Syrian rebel forces pushed their lightning offensive south towards the city of Homs in the biggest challenge for years to President Bashar al-Assad's rule.
