Syria anti-regime forces chase Hama after seizing 4 key cities

Syria’s armed anti-regime forces conquered four new cities early Tuesday, approaching the capital city of Hama, opposition leaders said, while regime forces retook some of the ground they had lost last week, local Turkish media reports.

According to a report by Daily Sabah, these towns were captured as part of a series of attacks by guerrillas from Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and Turkiye-led opposition forces.

The report says pro-regime fighters are now 10 km (6 miles) from Hama, the fourth largest city in the nation.

The latest assault is part of a broader offensive by forces opposed to Syrian President, Bashar Assad, the report added.

The group’s military operations department reported that gunmen killed 50 state forces when they stormed the central towns of Halfaya, Taybat Al-Imam, Maardis and Soran.

The British Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war observer organisation, confirmed that the towns had been looted.

The Observatory and pro-regime outlets announced, Tuesday, that Syrian regime forces captured the village of Khanaser, days after it had been taken.

Khanaser is located on one of the main highways to Aleppo.

Assad’s decades-long struggle against foreign backers and the number of armed opposition groups attempting to overthrow him has killed about half a million people in the past 13 years.

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