BEIRUT (AP) – Syrian insurgents captured four new towns early yesterday, bringing them closer to the central city of Hama, opposition activists said, while government forces retook some territory they lost last week.
The capture of the towns is the latest in the push by insurgents led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Insurgents now are about 10 kilometres from Hama, the country’s fourth largest city.
The latest push is part of a wide offensive by forces opposed to Syrian President Bashar Assad that over the past days has captured large parts of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest, as well as towns and villages in southern parts of the northwestern Idlib province.
The insurgents’ military operations administration said gunmen killed 50 government forces as they captured the central towns of Halfaya, Taybat al-Imam, Maardis and Soran. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, confirmed that the towns were taken.
