Russia, China Tell Their Citizens To Evacuate Syria Immediately

In a sign of likely more bad things to come for Assad forces, Syria's closest powerful ally Russia has ordered all of its civilian nationals to leave the country as the al-Qaeda linked group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham continues its shock offensive, making its way south from captured Aleppo area to Hama and Homs into the heart of the country.

"Russia on Friday urged its citizens to leave Syria, as rebel forces in the country press a lightning offensive against Moscow-ally Bashar al-Assad's government," AFP confirms.

The Russian embassy in Damascus issued an alert telling citizens "to leave the country on commercial flights through airports in operation" while underscoring "difficult military and political situation" in Syria.

China already on Thursday had issued an alert for all of its citizens to depart the country. The Chinese Embassy in Damascus told its nationals to depart "as soon as possible" at a moment the Syrian Army has been seen withdrawing from both Hama and Homs.

"At present, the war in northwestern Syria is growing tense, and the security situation in Syria is further deteriorating," Beijing's embassy said.

"The embassy in Syria suggests that Chinese citizens in Syria take advantage of the fact that commercial flights are still in operation to return home or leave the country as soon as possible," it warned.

While China does not have a huge amount of citizens in Syria, Russia has long maintained deep ties to the country. There's even a large apartment building in Damascus known to house Russian engineers and their families, which goes back decades.

Russia's military presence in Syria is not expected to change, however. Its forces have deployed since 2015 in defense of the Assad government. Russian warplanes have been flying alongside Syrian jets, pounding insurgent positions.

HTS is a US-designated terrorist organization, and is poised to capture Homs:

But the advance has not been slowed much given that there's currently not a lot of resistance by the Syrian Army on the ground so far. The consensus seems to be that Damascus is pulling many of its military assets back to the area around the capital, and the coast, in order to defend these high-population enclaves.

But Russia and China began viewing the situation with much greater alarm given that one of the country's two main international travel hubs, Aleppo International Airport, is now in the hands of the jihadists.

Border crossings into Lebanon have at the same time been bombed by Israel. "Israel bombed a border crossing between Lebanon and Syria on Friday morning not long after its reopening, in another violation of a fragile ceasefire deal signed last week," a regional source writes.

"Airstrikes targeted the Arida border crossing, Lebanon’s northernmost coastal point in the Akkar district, cutting it off from neighbouring Syria, the state-run National News Agency confirmed," the report adds. Iran-linked Iraqi militias have been coming across the border to Syria's aid, and some reports have pointed to more Iranian officers sent, but it remains unclear whether Russia will surge additional troops into the conflict.