Rebel army seizes one of Syria's biggest cities as government forces retreat
Source: NBC News
Rebel forces entered the Syrian city of Hama and forced out government troops Thursday, in a development that may have significant consequences in the country's 14-year-long civil war.
Both the Syrian Defense Ministry and an official from the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, said that insurgents had gained access to the country’s fourth-biggest city and that despite fierce fighting, the troops of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had left the city.
Hassan Abdul-Ghani, senior commander of the HTS-led forces, told NBC News, that tanks had been used during the incursion and fighters had “entered the Hama Central Prison and freed hundreds of unjustly imprisoned individuals.”
In a statement posted on Facebook, Syria's defense ministry said that rebel groups “managed to penetrate several positions within the city and enter it,” and that “to safeguard the lives of the civilian population in Hama and to avoid involving them in urban combat, the military units stationed there have redeployed and repositioned outside the city.”
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syrian-rebels-say-they-have-begun-enter-crucial-city-hama-2024-12-05/
The commander of the rebel forces, Hassan Abdul-Ghani , is giving interviews to Western media
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