Syrian rebels surround Hama, a key city for al-Assad's regime

After taking Aleppo, Syrian rebels are now surrounding the city of Hama, a key strategic point in the country for the regime. This town, located in the centre of Syria, is crucial for Bashar al-Assad's army to safeguard the capital and seat of power, Damascus. For this reason, analysts have suggested that if Hama falls, the regime may fall as well.  

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, rebels ‘have surrounded the city of Hama on three sides and are now present within three to four kilometres of it’. The UK-based organisation, which has an extensive network of contacts in Syria, said regime forces ‘had only one exit to Homs, to the south’. 

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, government forces have mobilised ‘large military convoys’ around Hama and its surroundings in the past 24 hours. ‘Dozens of trucks’ loaded with tanks, weapons, ammunition and soldiers headed towards the city, while ‘regime forces and pro-government fighters led by Russian and Iranian officers’ repelled an attack northwest of Hama. 

The official Syrian news agency SANA reported that government forces managed to ‘expand the security zone’ in Hama ‘by about 20 kilometres’. A military source quoted by the pro-Damascus media cited ‘fierce battles’ against rebels in Hama province, adding that ‘joint Syrian-Russian warplanes’ were part of the operation to defend the city.  

Also, in order to bolster his forces in the counteroffensive, al-Assad has ordered a 50 per cent increase in the pay of career soldiers.

During this week of fighting, 704 people have been killed, including 110 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory. Among the dead are 302 HTS fighters, as well as 59 members of the SNA. Also, since 27 November, at least 233 soldiers from al-Assad's forces have been killed, in addition to fighters from other pro-Iranian forces and militias allied to Damascus. 

Some of the dead civilians, including children, have been killed by insurgent shelling. However, the NGO stresses that most were killed in bombing raids by Syrian and Russian fighter jets in support of al-Assad. According to the Observatory, Russian fighter jets have carried out some 250 bombings, in addition to 318 bombings by Damascus aircraft and 45 air strikes by Syrian forces helicopters. 

For its part, Human Rights Watch has warned that the fighting ‘raises concerns that civilians face a real risk of serious abuses at the hands of armed opposition groups and the Syrian government’.