Syria gov’t forces battle opposition fighters near city of Hama

The Syrian government said its counteroffensive has pushed back opposition fighters attempting to advance to the strategic central city of Hama, while opposition forces say they captured more Syrian troops and Iran-backed fighters in fierce battles.

Forces opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have staged their biggest advance in years over the past week, capturing large parts of the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s largest, as well as towns and villages in southern parts of the northwestern Idlib province.

The offensive is being led by led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as well as Turkiye-backed opposition fighters known as the Syrian National Army (SNA). Both groups have in recent years entrenched themselves in northwest Idlib province and parts of northern Aleppo, with HTS considered the dominant force.

A video circulating on social media confirmed by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification agency showed HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani on Wednesday surrounded by supporters as he walked in front of the Citadel of Aleppo, a large medieval fortified palace in the centre of the old city.

The war between Assad and his allies – including Russia and Iran – and the array of armed opposition forces seeking his overthrow has killed an estimated half-million people during the past 13 years.

Fierce battles near Hama

Syrian state media SANA on Wednesday said opposition fighters retreated some 20km (12 miles) from government-held Hama, Syria’s fourth-largest city, as government troops backed by Russian airpower entrenched themselves in the outskirts.

Fierce fighting has raged for days as Damascus fears that the opposition will make their way into the city as they did over the weekend into Aleppo.

The opposition through its Military Operations Department channel on the Telegram app said they captured five Iran-backed fighters, of whom two were from Afghanistan, as well as three Syrian troops from its 25th Special Mission Forces Division in eastern Hama. The claims could not be independently confirmed.

Wassim, a 36-year-old delivery driver from Hama city, said the sounds were “really terrifying” and the continuous bombing was audible.

“I’ll stay home because I have nowhere else to flee to,” he said.

A Syrian photographer working for the German news agency dpa was killed in an air strike near the city of Hama, the agency said on Wednesday. Anas Alkharboutli, 32, has long documented Syria’s civil war, and worked for the agency from 2017.

If the opposition seize Hama city and control the province, it could leave the coastal cities of Tartous and Lattakia isolated from the rest of the country. Lattakia is a key political stronghold for al-Assad and Syria’s Alawite community, as well as a strategic Russian naval base.

‘Next target will be Damascus’

Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from northwestern Syria’s Menagh military air base, said opposition fighters are “very happy” that Aleppo has been captured.

“Some of the commanders that I have spoken to were from Hama, from Aleppo … they say, they will enter Hama,” Koseoglu said. “Their next target will be Damascus.”

Tens of thousands have been displaced by the fighting, which started last week, Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, said Tuesday.

“If we do not see de-escalation and a rapid move to a serious political process, involving the Syrian parties and the key international players, then I fear we will see a deepening of the crisis,” Pedersen said in an address the UN Security Council. “Syria will be in grave danger of further division, deterioration, and destruction.”

Turkiye, which backs Syria’s opposition, has called on al-Assad to reconcile with opposition forces and include them in any political solution to end the conflict.

Ankara has been seeking to normalise ties with Syria to address perceived security threats from groups affiliated with Kurdish fighters along its southern border and to help ensure the safe return of more than 3 million Syrian refugees.

Al-Assad has insisted that Turkiye’s withdrawal of its military forces from northern Syria be a condition for any normalisation between the two countries.

Damascus refers to the opposition as “terrorists”, and al-Assad has promised to respond to the offensive with an iron fist.

Turkish and Iranian officials met earlier this week, in a bid to reach a solution and de-escalate the flareup. Arab countries bordering Syria, and who once backed groups that tried to overthrow al-Assad, have expressed their concern about the conflict’s regional effects, and have backed the president.

“Many policymakers thought, well, al-Assad won, there is no war,” said Rim Turkmani, director of the Syria Conflict Research Programme at the London School of Economics.

But “we’ve been worrying about this for years, that the fact that there is no intense violence doesn’t mean that the conflict is over,” she said.

While the opposition fighters may have advanced swiftly, it does not mean they will have the capacity to hold the territory they have captured.

HTS is “very well organised, very ideologically driven,” Turkmani said. “However, they spread very quickly and very thin. And I think very quickly they’re going to realise it’s beyond their capacity to maintain these areas and, most importantly, to govern them.”