live from washington. this is bbc news thousands flee as syrian rebels reach the city limits of the country's third largest city — homs. new video of the man who killed a top us health executive is released as officials say the manhunt is a multi—state operation. millions of people are warned to brace for storm darragh — which could bring life threatening conditions to parts of the uk. hello, i'm carl nasman. tens of thousands of people are fleeing the syrian city of homs, as rebel islamist fighters close in. it is the third major city under seige by opposition fighters since they began a surprise operation against government forces last week — the latest chapter in syria's

thirteen—year civil war. the rebels, have former links to al-qaeda, and are on the move again after being forced into retreat five years ago. but in just 10 days they have taken control of syria's second largest city aleppo. another major city, hama, fell yesterday, and now they have reached homs. they also have their sights on the capital damascus — a stronghold of syrian president bashar al—assad and government forces. the government's loss of territory comes as backers russia, iran, and hezbollah, find themselves stretched in other conflicts. with all the latest from the turkey—syrian border, here's hugo bachega. syrian rebels on their way to homs, their offensive has been swift and astonishing. here, they celebrate as they capture another town without facing any resistance.

they also had no opposition in hama, chanting, god is greatest, crowds gathered. to welcome the fighters. they also seized this army base, symbolic as the military struggles to counter their progress. the civil war in syria started in 2011 when president bashar al—assad crushed protests against his regime. homs, a rebel stronghold, was under siege for three years in opposition fighters only left under a deal brokered by the un in 2015 when government forces reclaimed it. if the rebels take homs, damascus the capital would be an easier target. the syrian army has fallen, the state capacity has been degraded. the writing is on the wall.

frozen for years, the front lines in syria are changing fast, this is an insurgency led by islamist rebels from a group known as hts, they have their roots in al-qaeda but have tried to rebrand themselves as a nationalist force. from their base, they launched a surprise campaign last week, they took aleppo, the country's second largest city, continued to push south. this is their leader. in an interview to cnn, he said the goal was to topple the regime and bring back syrian refugees. people return to their homes, many refugees in turkey will likely return, as will a significant number of refugees in lebanon and jordan, even refugees in europe may return to rebuild their country. they are vowing to reach damascus and bashar al—assad is struggling to stop them. in the past, he relied

heavily on russia in iran to fight the opposition. but both allies are preoccupied with their own affairs. the rebels have the momentum and the regime is increasingly under threat. joining me live now to discuss all of this is allison mcmanus, managing director of national security and international policy at the centerfor american progress. the syrian rebel groups are claiming to have reached the city of homs. how crucial is control of that city? thank you so much for having me and it's an exciting tenuous time to be speaking. as you mentioned, we have seen surprising events over the past few weeks and now, we have rebel groups advancing on homs. homs is very critical and it is

located between some of the regimes strongholds and notably the russian base on the coast of syria and damascus, the capital in the south. if the rebels are able to capture homs, they're essentially cutting off lines of supply and cutting off lines of supply and cutting in half the regimes strongholds and damascus and on the coast and we consider this cements their takeover over the vast majority of the country. they have taken all of this territory in a matter of days and there seems to be very little resistance by any sort of forces that are controlled by al—assad, what does that say about syria's forces? by al-assad, what does that say about syria's forces?— about syria's forces? they do not have _ about syria's forces? they do not have control _ about syria's forces? they do not have control of _ about syria's forces? they do not have control of the - about syria's forces? they do | not have control of the armed forces and it certainly lays bare that al—assad was really

propped up by externalforces, he had little legitimacy at homs, no military legitimacy and has been unable to command the troops to stay and fight. retreat after retreat across the country and liberal political legitimacy, even his supporters and present can speak a bit more about that as we had seen in past years, some beginnings of normalisation with al—assad but very few countries have come to his support and certainly domestically, not only are we seeing these rebel groups make advances but spontaneous protests erupting in the south and other areas of syria. it really does feel as though the country has turned against him in the region to some extent is turning a cold shoulder to him and like i said, there is really little legitimacy with

him at this point.— really little legitimacy with him at this point. does not allow support _ him at this point. does not allow support for _ him at this point. does not allow support for his - allow support for his government, there is the military angle and it seems to be a pretty weak defence here of the country and how much trouble is al—assad in? fix, of the country and how much trouble is al-assad in? a great deal of trouble. _ trouble is al-assad in? a great deal of trouble. what - trouble is al-assad in? a great deal of trouble. what we - trouble is al-assad in? a great deal of trouble. what we will i deal of trouble. what we will see in the coming days, certainly is that these rebel advances are being put to the test and again, bev that much opposition, not much defence from the regime in forces but that may change once they reached the coast and the stronghold areas and as i mentioned, come closer to threatening russia's naval base and that as a base that russia is not going to want to give up on and not mine to give up on positions and the rest of syria but it is hard to imagine at this point what we have seen so far is that the iranian troops

that al—assad really depended on and other phases of this conflict are nowhere to be seen and it's nowhere to be seen exceptin and it's nowhere to be seen except in a few cases where we have seen some tactical strikes and some retaliatory strikes but without these two elements, it is to imagine how al—assad reasserts himself and the parts of the country that have been taken and so, the question is, how far does this rebel advance extend to damascus, to the coast and how long will that take a resistance with a face and really, really big questions about what covenants might look like from here. around 30 seconds left so just briefly, the leader of this hgh group that we've heard of a bit of what he had to say really stressing the groups only goal is to overthrow the al—assad regime and distancing itself from its al-qaeda roots. you believe that, what do you think

of this rebel group itself? let's be clear, it's no paradigm of liberalism than they are in extremist group and they are in extremist group and they have ruled in extremist fashion that made attempts to reform notjust the rhetoric that we here but in some of this to some extent in terms of how they've governed but really there's a lot of concerns for there's a lot of concerns for the many minorities that are in syria in the kurds, christians and right now they're saying all the right things and as we have learned from the experience of the taliban in afghanistan, you'll often hear military leaders say are the right things only to walk back those words later on. there's also the question of capacity and setting up some governance in effectively and that's not the same as being able to govern an entire country with

multiple cities with specificities and there is a lot that remains to be seen. thank you very much. the family of the american journalist austin tice says he is still alive in syria, more than 12 years after he was taken hostage. he was kidnapped at a checkpoint near damascus in 2012, while reporting on the civil war. he has been held captive longer than any other us journalist. in august, us presidentjoe biden again demanded that syria release him. the government of president bashar al—assad has denied holding mr tice. the tice family met white house officials here in washington for the first time on friday — among them, mr tice's sister, abigail edaburn, and her daughter, maia. they spoke to the bbc a short while ago. u nfortu nately, unfortunately, i think itjust comes down to the fragile political relationships and austin is caught in all of that but for ourfamily, obviously,

but for our family, obviously, are one but for ourfamily, obviously, are one main goal in the hope is tojust get are one main goal in the hope is to just get austin home and while we are here, all of us together in washington, dc, our main goal is to ask president biden to please call al—assad and ask for austin to come home. police searching for the man who killed the ceo of one of america s largest health insurance companies have widened their manhunt to include four us states: new york, newjersey, connecticut, and georgia. brian thompson was killed in the early hours of wednesday morning in manhattan. here 5 what we know at this hour: officers say the suspect was first seen in the upper west side area two hours before the shooting. five minutes before

the murder, he walks to the hilton hotel in midtown, and waits. thompson walks to the hilton — where he was due to give a speech. and is shot at least twice before the suspect escapes towards central park on a bike. police have yet to suggest a motive ? and would not confirm a report that delay and deny were written on the bullets ? words often used by insurance companies to reject claims. 0ur nada tawfik reports from new york. new video shows the assailant walking along 55th st and putting something on a pile of trash bags, minutes after he purchased items at a starbucks with cash. and less than half an hour before he shot united health care ceo brian thompson. this image caught on surveillance camera shows the suspect standing at the check—in desk at a hostel where he reportedly shared a room with two other men, he pulls down his mask to show the receptionist to smile and reveals his full face. this breakthrough in the case here at the american youth hostel on manhattan's upper

west side has given police new leads. these brothers who live in italy say they were staying on the same floor as the suspect. it was a weird coincidence that it was exactly that night, it feels a bit crazy still, but the next day, the whole night we had a police officer staying on ourfloor for our safety, we don't know, maybe he was waiting for him to come back. we now know the person of interest in this case checked into this hostel using a fake id, after arriving here on a bus from a state south of the city ten days before the shooting, this has now turned into a multistate manhunt. the fatal shooting of brian thompson in midtown manhattan just as he was about to give an investor talk felt like a scene out of a hollywood movie, it has led other major corporations to re—evaluate their safety. no one is thinking immediately

this is an attack against ceos, but it is making everyone re—evaluate. police have not yet recovered the suspect�*s distinctive backpack or gun. according to our us partners cbs police believe the crime weapon was a station six, this video demonstrates why a handgun like this might have been chosen to carry out murder in a built—up part of manhattan where a gunshot would echo. new york officials insist the investigation is on the right track. for now, though, the suspect is still at large and his identity unknown. we can dive deeper now with retired fbi special agent pat mcmonigle. can you give us some insight into how authorities are working on this case? we believe this suspect has left new york city in its

multistate manhunt, what does that tell you about this search and how difficult this is going to be? i and how difficult this is going to be? ~ , , ., , to be? i think this is a very exciting — to be? i think this is a very exciting part _ to be? i think this is a very exciting part of _ to be? i think this is a very exciting part of the - exciting part of the investigation and i'll be very surprised if they did not have him under surveillance right now, parent of a subject that they have printed for it but my guess is that they have them under surveillance in another city or another location and their preparing a search warrant and the swat team is probably preparing to take his door down and execute a search warrant or arrest warrant on him. , ., , ., ., him. just what gives you that since that — him. just what gives you that since that they _ him. just what gives you that since that they have - him. just what gives you that since that they have that - him. just what gives you that i since that they have that much on the tractor they're keyed in on the tractor they're keyed in on the tractor they're keyed in on the suspect in order he is? where speculating here —— we are all speculating here and they put out some information and tracked him to the bus station and they said they did not see him leave but i'm guessing they have a lot of surveillance cameras in the bus

station and they probably have done a lot of interviews and a lot of techniques in the bus station to figure out where he went to lot of times what happens when we're worried about an attacker doing another attack is to put him under surveillance and make sure the safety of the community is first and paramount. safety of the community is firstand paramount. i'm safety of the community is first and paramount. i'm just guessing that is the situation right now and no one is putting out any information saying that is the case but he has left a lot of information and a lot of evidence behind the clue us into who he is.— evidence behind the clue us into who he is. talk us through the information _ into who he is. talk us through the information that _ into who he is. talk us through the information that seems - into who he is. talk us through the information that seems to | the information that seems to be left behind here. we know that right now police in new york examining a backpack as covered in central park and they think it might potentially belong to him and like you mentioned, the scammers. we have some pretty extensive footage of the suspect too. it's a relatively short amount of time to figure out where he came in the city and where she

went and how he left is pretty impressive with tens of thousands of cameras that are covering that city. 0ne thousands of cameras that are covering that city. one of the densest areas in the world for cameras and to put them altogether, i'm pretty sure when he made that and flashed his pearly whites at the receptionist that he probably was picked up somewhere on facial recognition and we have also canvassed and they have campuses out to anybody who has seen this person. summers probably called and who knows him and knows that he has an axe to grind with the ceo and probably that is how the identification happened. and there's a lot of speculation going on about dna that is collected on him if that's the case, then he is in our database and we figured them out already and just waiting for a sure thing. out already and 'ust waiting for a sure thing._ out already and 'ust waiting for a sure thing. referring to the picture — for a sure thing. referring to the picture where _ for a sure thing. referring to the picture where we - for a sure thing. referring to the picture where we see - for a sure thing. referring to | the picture where we see him smiling allegedly taking his mask off potentially to flow to speak with a woman of the hospital she was staying at.

what kind of picture is this painting to you and obviously, this is still speculation, but do we have a sense of who the suspect might be? does do we have