Syria army says lost control of key central city of Hama

Syrian regime forces announced that they had lost control of the key city of Hama, on the second week of the offensive by anti-regime forces that had previously captured Aleppo from the regime.

The fighting around Hama follows a rapid offensive by the rebels, who in just days captured large chunks of territory, including Syria's second city Aleppo, from President Bashar al-Assad's control.

Strategically located in central Syria, Hama is crucial for the army's efforts to protect the capital, Damascus.

The city lies more than a third of the way from Aleppo to Damascus and its capture now opens the road to a rebel advance on Homs, the central city that functions as a main crossroads connecting Syria's most populous regions.

The anti-regime fighters surrounded the city from three sides following violent clashes with the Assad troops which are left only one exit towards Homs to south, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

On Nov. 27, a coalition of armed forces led by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a lightning offensive in Syria's northwest, which had been relatively calm since 2020.

The Observatory said that 704 people, mostly combatants but also 110 civilians, have been killed in Syria since the violence erupted last week.

The head of HTS, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, on Dec. 4 visited Aleppo's landmark citadel.

Jolani was seen waving to supporters from an open-top car as he visited the historic fortress, in images posted on the rebels' Telegram channel.

Hama has stayed in government hands throughout the civil war, which erupted in 2011 as a rebellion against Assad. 

In a bid to encourage soldiers, Assad ordered a 50-percent raise in career soldiers' pay as he seeks to bolster his forces for the counteroffensive.

The Observatory said government forces brought "large military convoys to Hama" and its outskirts.

The latest flare-up in Syria’s long civil war comes as Assad’s main regional and international backers, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, are preoccupied with their own wars.

The United Nations on Dec. 4 said 115,000 people had been "newly displaced across Idlib and northern Aleppo" by the fighting.