Islamist insurgents have entered the Syrian metropolis of Hama in a battle to grab a significant location on the street to Damascus, marking the newest problem to Bashar al-Assad’s management of the nation.
Militants led by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) entered the town from the east on Thursday after surrounding it throughout 5 days of combating with forces loyal to Assad.
“This victory will likely be with out revenge and merciful,” mentioned the chief of HTS, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, in a message to the folks of Hama.
The Syrian defence ministry initially denied that insurgents had entered the Hama, calling its defensive strains “impregnable”. However as combating intensified and drew nearer to the town centre, the Syrian military mentioned it had withdrawn, redeploying its forces “to protect the lives of civilians and to not contain the folks of Hama metropolis in these battles”.
Positioned on a freeway that runs down the western facet of Syria in direction of the capital, Damascus, Hama was the positioning of mass uprisings in opposition to Assad in 2011, after which fierce battles when opposition forces tried and did not take management of the town within the ensuing civil struggle.
Hama can be the web site of a infamous 1982 bloodbath, when forces loyal to former president Hafez al-Assad besieged the city to forestall an rebellion led by Sunni Muslim opponents of his rule.
The sweeping offensive led by HTS has resulted in Assad shedding management of Syria’s second largest metropolis, Aleppo, in addition to swaths of the north-east of the nation. The sudden losses seem to have unsettled Assad’s longtime backers in Moscow and Tehran, with Russian forces consumed with their invasion of Ukraine and Iran involved about being focused by Israeli airstrikes on Syrian territory, which have elevated within the final yr.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, instructed reporters that Moscow was “carefully monitoring”, occasions in Syria. “Relying on the evaluation of the state of affairs, we can discuss in regards to the diploma of help that’s wanted by the Syrian authorities to deal with the militants and remove this menace,” he mentioned.
Gregory Waters, an analyst of the Syrian military with the Center East Institute, mentioned a mix of low morale, low pay, corruption and dysfunction throughout the chain of command had contributed to the sudden rout of presidency forces from areas they’d managed for years.
The Syrian military, he mentioned, was “fully unprepared”, for the rebel offensive.
Amid stories of rising desertions from the Syrian military or fighters fleeing their positions, Assad issued a decree elevating salaries for navy personnel by 50% earlier this week.
Navy assist from Iran and Russia has been restricted in comparison with earlier iterations of the battle in Syria, mentioned Waters.
“I feel it’s exhausting to see a situation the place forces loyal to the regime in Damascus can regain momentum,” he mentioned. “Even when the Russians and Iranian or Iranian-backed forces get extra concerned, they’re nonetheless restricted by their very own wars. It feels unlikely to achieve the extent of assist we’ve seen beforehand.”
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