Tens of thousands of people are fleeing the Syrian city of Homs as rebel Islamist fighters close in. The speed at which the armed opposition is advancing across the country has surprised everyone. The Syrian army of President Assad has been retreating with little sign of resistance.

Syria’s civil war began in 2011 and led to enormous loss of life – as many as 500,000 people are believed to have been killed. Rebel fighters were forced into retreat in 2016 but now they’re back and in just 10 days they have captured Syria’s second largest city of Aleppo and another major city, Hama. If they also capture Homs they could cut the main road from the capital Damascus to the Syrian coast.

The threat to President Assad’s regime comes as his international allies are weakened, with Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, are fighting in their own conflicts.

Clive Myrie presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Hugo Bachega on the Turkey-Syria border.

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