Residents evacuate as anti-regime forces assemble on a road near Morek, leading to the Hama province in central-west Syria on December 1, 2024. — AFP
Islamist-led rebels clashed with army troops on Tuesday as they pushed towards the city of Hama in central Syria, according to a war monitor. Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) and its allies engaged in some of the 'most intense' battles with government forces since initiating a rapid offensive last week, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor. Since launching their offensive, they have seized large areas from the Syrian government, including the second city Aleppo.
'Clashes have broken out in the northern Hama countryside, where rebel factions have taken control of several cities and towns in recent hours,' reported the Britain-based monitor, which has a network of sources inside Syria. 'Syrian and Russian air forces conducted numerous airstrikes in the region,' it added. Russia first intervened directly in Syria's conflict in 2015 with strikes on rebel-held areas and has pledged ongoing support for President Bashar Al Assad since the recent escalation began. State news agency Sana also reported airstrikes on Hama province and the rebel stronghold of Idlib in the northwest.
Hama is a strategic city connecting Aleppo to the capital Damascus. It was a hub of opposition to the Assad government early in the civil war and the site of frequent mass protests. For many residents, the wounds of the 1982 massacre by the army, aimed at suppressing the banned Muslim Brotherhood, remain unhealed. An AFP journalist in the northern Hama countryside observed dozens of Syrian army tanks and military vehicles abandoned along the road to Hama.
'We aim to advance on Hama after securing' towns that have been captured, a rebel fighter who identified himself as Abu Al Huda Al Sourani told AFP. A rebel takeover of Hama would 'endanger the regime's popular base,' according to Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. The province's western countryside is home to the Alawite community, from which Assad hails. The UN reports that nearly 50,000 people have been displaced by the fighting that has claimed hundreds of lives, mostly fighters, since the end of November. Syria has been embroiled in conflict since Assad's suppression of democracy protests in 2011.
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