Russia has no plans to rescue Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad from advancing rebel forces, according to reports.

Bloomberg News quoted a source close to the Kremlin saying that Vladimir Putin was disgusted by reports that the Syrian Army was fleeing its positions.

“Russia doesn’t have a plan to save Assad and doesn’t see one emerging as long as the Syrian president’s army continues to abandon its positions,” the source said.

The jihadist-led rebel forces captured Hama on Thursday night after seizing Syria’s second city, Aleppo, last week. On Friday, they were advancing on the city of Homs, which lies on the road to Damascus.

The Kremlin told all Russian citizens to flee on the next available commercial flight.

Charles Lister, director of the Syria programme at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said that Assad had relied on Putin to save him in 2015 but his future now looked bleak.

“Russia doesn’t seem able, or perhaps even willing, to save him,” he said.

Iran has a military presence in Homs and other parts of Syria and on Friday, Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said he would support Assad “to the extent necessary”, without elaborating.