A monitor of Syria's war said rebels were just five kilometres from third city Homs on Friday, after controlling two strategic towns on the road linking it to Hama. "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions have reached five kilometres from the outskirts of Homs city after controlling the towns of Rastan and Talbisseh," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding that controlling Homs would allow the rebels to "cut off the main road leading to the Syrian coast", the stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority. FRANCE 24's Andrew Hilliar tells us more.
