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"Our forces have begun the final phase of encircling the capital," said rebel commander Hassan Abdel Ghani, with the Islamist-led alliance that launched the offensive, news agency AFP reported.
The leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group which has headed the assault, told fighters to prepare to take the seat of Assad's government, just over a week into a renewed offensive in the long dormant conflict.
"Damascus awaits you," said HTS's Ahmed al-Sharaa in a statement on Telegram, using his real name instead of his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
Syria's defence ministry said army forces were "present in all areas of the Damascus countryside". "There is no truth to news claiming our armed forces... have withdrawn" from positions near Damascus, it said. Syria's presidency denied reports that Assad had left Damascus, saying he was "following up on his work and national and constitutional duties from the capital".
HTS is rooted in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda. Proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Western governments, it has sought to soften its image in recent years. As the Islamist rebels seize more territory, they have sought to reassure minority groups living in areas now under their control. "We ask that all sects be reassured... for the era of sectarianism and tyranny has gone away forever," said Abdel Ghani.
Since the offensive began last week, at least 826 people, mostly combatants but also including 111 civilians, have been killed. The United Nations said the violence has displaced 3.7 lakh people.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Syria must not be allowed to fall into the hands of "terrorist" rebels fighting the forces of Moscow's ally President Bashar al-Assad. "It's inadmissible to allow the terrorist group to take control of the lands in violation of agreements which exist, starting with the UN Security Council Resolution 2254 which strongly reiterated sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of the Syrian Arab Republic," Mr Lavrov said at an event in Qatar, referring to a 2015 UN resolution for a political settlement in Syria.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for a "political solution to the conflict", his spokesperson said on Friday, in a call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
US President-elect Donald Trump, however, on Saturday said the US should "not get involved" in the situation in Syria. "Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, and the United States should have nothing to do with it. This is not our fight. Let it play out. Do not get involved," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
There has been no public signal that the Biden administration is contemplating such an intervention. Trump has long taken an isolationist approach, and during this year's presidential campaign he often said he could end the Ukraine and Gaza wars "quickly."