Syrian rebels conquer the second city, army withdraws from Hama

Syrian rebels conquer the second city, army withdraws from Hama

cnn - the Syrian army has announced its retreat from Hama, a symbolic and strategically important city in the center of the country. This marks a second significant victory for a newly formed rebel coalition last week aleppo has conquered.

The withdrawal of the Syrian army

"In the last few hours, with the intensification of the clashes between our soldiers and terrorist groups and the increase in martyrs in our ranks, these groups succeeded in penetrating several parts of the city," said the Syrian military in a statement published by the State news agency Sana.

liberation of prisoners

The rebels reported that they released hundreds of "wrongly imprisoned" from the central prison. Aleppo, the second largest city of Syria, was recaptured by rebels after a surprising offensive, which overwhelmed the troops of President Bashar al-Assad and his allies.

strategic importance of Hama

The offensive represents a significant setback for Assad and its supporters in Iran and Russia and has flamed a civil war that has been largely inactive in recent years. Hama is strategically located at an important crossing point in western Central Syria and offers direct supply paths between the capital Damascus and Aleppo. Since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, the rebels could not conquer the city.

symbolic meaning of the city

Abu Mohammad Al Jolani, the leader of the Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) - the main rebel group that heads the offensive - explained that his troops came to Hama to "heal a 40 -year -old wound". The city has a symbolic meaning because in 1982 it was one of the largest and most brutal massacre in the country. At that time, President Hafez al-Assad-the father of the current ruler-ordered a revolt to suppress his army. A report by Amnesty International from 1983 estimated the fatalities on both sides to between 10,000 and 25,000.

The emergence of HTS

hts was founded by Jolani after having dissolved Al-Qaida’s Syrian offshoot, the al-Nusra front in 2016 due to ideological differences. Jolani then founded HTS in early 2017 and tried to convert it into a moderate Islamist group. Despite Jolani's efforts to distance his new group of Al-Qaida and ISIS, HTS 2018 was classified by the USA as a foreign terrorist organization and a reward of $ 10 million was exposed to it.

look at the future

The rebels swore to penetrate to the city of Homs further south, another large city that is about 165 kilometers from Damascus. "Our heroic people in Homs, your time has come. Explains a revolution against oppression and tyranny," said Hassan Abdulghani, the spokesman for the rebels.

origins of the Syrian Civil War

The Syrian Civil War began during the Arab Spring of 2011, when the government was leaving an uprising against Assad, which has been president since 2000. The country fell into a comprehensive civil war when the protests converted into an armed uprising. Hama was the place of some of the first protests against the Syrian regime during the Arab revolution.

This story continues to develop and is updated.