Syrian rebels enter key city of Hama

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Syrian rebel forces on Thursday entered the major city of Hama, which has remained in regime hands through more than 13 years of civil war, after fierce clashes with government forces backed by Russian air strikes.

Government forces said they were retreating from the centre of the strategically located city after the insurgents “were able to penetrate several axes in the city and enter it”.

“The military units stationed there have redeployed and repositioned outside the city,” the Syrian Armed Forces said, adding that there had been rising deaths among both regime and rebel fighters.

Rebel commander Hassan Abdul Ghany earlier said on social media that the insurgents, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, were fighting “fierce battles” inside the city’s neighbourhoods.

He said they were progressing towards the city centre, and had “liberated” several areas. The rebels’ advance over the past week has posed the biggest threat to Damascus in a decade.

Rebels have been fighting to reach Hama since Tuesday, appearing to encircle the city from the north, east and west, where they clashed with regime forces on Wednesday, according to footage on social media channels linked to the insurgents.

The capture of Hama would clear the way for a further rebel push on the centrally located crossroads of Homs. It sits along the strategic highway that connects all four of Syria’s major cities, including the capital Damascus in the south.

Damascus said it had sent in heavy reinforcements over the past few days to bolster pro-regime contingents. But the rebels’ ability to advance on Hama further underscores the fragility of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and weakness of the Syrian army, even though it is propped up by forces from Russia, Iran and Iranian-backed militants.

The arrival of rebel fighters in Hama came less than a week after a shock insurgent offensive captured Aleppo and upended a years-long stalemate in Syria’s bloody civil war, a 13-year-old conflict that has drawn in regional and international states.

Hama played a central role in a previous Islamist challenge to Assad family rule in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in a 1982 massacre by the government that killed tens of thousands of civilians.

Cartography by Steven Bernard