Conflict in the Middle East –
Bashar al-Assad’s forces sent reinforcements to Hama, a Syrian town where the rebel coalition arrived. Dozens of families were displaced.
Published today at 12:15 p.m.
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The Syrian army launched a counter-offensive on Wednesday to push back rebels who approached Hama, a strategic city in central Syria, after taking most of Aleppo, the country’s second city, to the north, a report said. NGOs.
The coalition of rebels dominated by the radical Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), arrived at the gates of Hama, Syria’s fourth city, where Bashar al-Assad’s army dispatched reinforcements.
“After midnight, the regime forces launched a counter-offensive,” under air cover, and were able to repel the attackers, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
The official Syrian agency Sana said on Wednesday that the army was continuing its operations against “terrorist organizations” in the province of Hama.
She added that “army units are engaged in heavy clashes” with rebels to the northeast and northwest of the city. The OSDH, based in the United Kingdom but which has a vast network of sources in Syria, also reported “violent fighting” in progress.
According to the Observatory, government forces regained control of two surrounding villages and were able to “push HTS back approximately 10 km” from the town of Hama.
Cited by Sana, a Syrian military source indicated on Tuesday that “significant military reinforcements” had been dispatched to this strategic city in central Syria, on the road linking Aleppo to the capital Damascus.
Syrian television showed images of Hama overnight, where police and soldiers can be seen in deserted squares.
According to the OSDH, the fighting also displaced “dozens of families” from several areas in the west and north of Hama province.
The loss of Aleppo was a major setback for the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
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