Days following seizing control of Aleppo, Syria’s second-biggest city, insurgents led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), have now gained control over another key city ‘Hama’. This comes as another major blow to the regime of Syria President Bashar al-Assad.
On Thursday morning, the HTS-led rebel coalition entered Hama’s eastern suburbs and were pushing west by the afternoon when government forces announced their withdrawal. Visuals have emerged wherein the insurgents can be seen inside Hama Governor’s palace in the city center. Notably, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) left the palace without any fight with the rebels after they captured it.
The video further shows a militant, standing along his group inside the palace, recording the video while chanting slogans as a mark to depict their victory. Last week, the Syrian rebel groups launched a surprise attack, forcing the Syrian army to redeploy and announce a “temporary withdrawal”. The Syrian rebels entered Aleppo just three days into their surprise offensive.
The offensive has triggered a fresh wave of conflict amidst a 13-year-long civil war. According to the media reports, dozens of soldiers lost their lives in the fighting against rebels. Rebels entry in Aleppo marked the first time that they set foot in the country’s second-largest city since government forces recaptured the city in 2016.
Later on Sunday, the rebel forces reportedly turned their approach southward and attempted to gain control of Hama, a city south of Aleppo. Despite the concerning development, President Assad on Sunday promised that Syria would “defend its stability and its territorial integrity in the face of terrorists and their supporters.” The surprise offensive, which began Wednesday, is the first significant flare-up in years between the Syrian opposition and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, who has ruled the war-hit nation since 2000.
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