TENS of thousands of people have fled their homes in fear as Islamist insurgents close in on Syria’s third-largest city Homs.

Jihadist-led fighters seized two towns on the outskirts today, positioning themselves for an assault on the city, which would be a blow against President Bashar al-Assad.

Insurgents siezed Hama to the north on Thursday, with the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Abu Mohammad al-Julani, a veteran of al-Qaida In Iraq who spent years in US prisons, saying their goal is to make their way to the Syrian capital Damascus to overthrow the Assad regime.

The Syrian army, supported by Russia, said it withdrew from Hama as a “temporary tactical measure” to avoid fighting inside the city and spare the lives of civilians.

General Ali Mahmoud Abbas said: “We are in a good position on the ground,” adding that troops remained “at the gates of Hama.”

Meanwhile, US-allied Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have seized control of Deir al-Zour in the east after government forces were moved from parts of the city to be reinforced elsewhere.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that local factions took control of the Nasib border crossing between Syria and Jordan today after government troops withdrew.

Its chief Rami Abdurrahman said that the battle of Homs is the “mother of all battles and will decide who will rule Syria.”

For the past week, Syria’s army has repeatedly fallen back before sudden opposition offensives, following a long truce in Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war.

After years of largely being bottled up in a north-west corner of the country, the insurgents began their advances a week ago with the capture of the northern city of Aleppo.

Along with HTS, the fighters include forces of an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army.

Turkish-backed groups have also launched operations against largely Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria over fears of an autonomous Kurdish region on its border.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected claims of any involvement, but he appeared today to welcome rebel advances.

He blamed the developments on Mr Assad’s refusal to enter a dialogue with Turkey.

“We had made a call to Assad. We said: ‘Come, let’s meet. Let’s determine the future of Syria together’,” Mr Erdogan said.

“Unfortunately, we could not get a positive response from Assad.”