A coalition of rebel fighters in Syria continues its advance claiming more territory from the government days after taking Aleppo, in the nation’s northwest.
This week, insurgents led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a powerful Islamist faction, advanced on the central city of Hama, encircling it on December 4, after days of intense fighting on its outskirts.
Iran, a staunch ally of Syrian ruler Bashar Assad, has sought to downplay the significance of the renewed rebel offensive.
A December 5 report in Iran’s state-run Press TV claimed Syrian government forces, in conjunction with its Russian allies, had killed over 2,000 rebel fighters in a week of fighting, and expanded the security perimeter around Hama.
Press TV accused Western media outlets and the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, of launching “an intense propaganda campaign, alleging that the terrorists had entered Hama.”
“Syrian security sources have, however, confirmed that ‘Hama is completely safe, with armed forces stationed around the city,’” Press TV reported.
That is false.
At least two days before Press TV reported Hama was “completely safe” and under the control of government forces, the city was already besieged by Syrian insurgents.
By the time of the Press TV report, the rebels had entered Hama and later claimed control over the city.
Shortly after, the Syrian army confirmed it had lost the city.
“[T]he military units stationed there have redeployed and repositioned outside the city,” a December 5 statement from Syria’s General Command of the Army and Armed Forces read.
Concurrently, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of HTS, released a video statement saying, “Hama had been liberated” from government forces. Al-Golani called on rebel fighters not to take revenge against civilians who support the government.
NBC News published footage released by rebel-affiliated media showing abandoned military vehicles at a base near Hama.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebel fighters had captured the police headquarters in Hama and an air base. HTS also said it has captured Hama’s Central Prison and released inmates.
The Observatory also reported that HTS fighters had entered the city of Salamiyah, east of the city of Hama, and taken the town of Qamhana.
Later in the day, footage surfaced of rebels toppling the statue of late Syrian President Hafez Assad, the father of Bashar Assad, who carried out a brutal crackdown on the city of Hama in 1982 in what became known as the Hama Massacre. Government forces killed tens of thousands of Hama residents while thousands of others disappeared during a month-long assault.
On December 6, Agence France-Presse published video of a truck dragging the head of the statue through the streets to celebrate the city’s capture.
Located roughly 210 kilometers north of the capital Damascus, Hama has come to symbolize opposition to Assad’s dynastic regime.
During the 2011 rallies that preceded the civil war, as many as 500,000 people took to the streets of Hama on July 1 to protest the regime.
That year, government forces besieged the city on July 31, the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, indiscriminately firing on civilians, echoing the events of 1982.
Following the capture of Hama, rebel forces announced they would advance southward on Homs, Syria’s third largest city. Homs is roughly 40 kilometers south of Hama, and borders the coastal province of Latakia, an Assad stronghold, which houses Syria’s main commercial port.
The Washington D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War called Homs “the lynchpin of the regime’s logistics system that connected Damascus to Aleppo and to the coast,” making control of the city critical.
Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanon-based militant group, played a critical role in supporting Assad, but saw its fighting capability diminished following the 2024 Israel Invasion of Lebanon.
Russia’s September 2015 Syria intervention was key to propping up the regime of Assad.
In conjunction with Iranian forces and Iran-backed militias, Russia helped Assad reverse most of the rebel gains and was instrumental in helping government forces recapture Aleppo in 2016.
Years after analysts declared victory for Assad, the renewed rebel advance could undo a key foreign policy achievement for Russia.
After coming to Assad’s defense, Russia secured 49-year leases to use and expand its naval base in Tartus, which borders Latakia to the north, and Hmeimim Air Base, located in Latakia. Those facilities allow Russia to project power in the Middle East and throughout Africa. Their loss would prove a strategic failure for the Kremlin.
In an exclusive interview with CNN published on December 6, HTS leader al-Golani said, “the goal of the revolution remains the overthrow of this regime.”
The United Nations, the United States and Syria all consider HTS to be a terrorist group.
Researchers say HTS, previously affiliated with al-Qaida, has moderated its views, and promises to protect religious and ethnic minorities.
Rather than focus on global jihad, HTS redirected their struggle against Assad and his key backers — Iran and Russia.