Syrian rebels capture strategic city in major setback for Assad

BEIRUT —  Syrian rebels overran Hama on Thursday, forcing government troops to retreat from the strategically significant central city and dealing a painful blow to President Bashar Assad.

The takeover of Hama follows at the heels of the rebels’ capture last week of Aleppo, Syria’s industrial center, in a lightning offensive that upended a years-old stalemate between Assad’s government and the opposition vowing to dislodge him since 2011.

In recent days, army troops scrambled to Hama in an effort to blunt the rebels’ momentum. But by Wednesday, what the army called “terrorist groups” were able to enter the city from several sides.

In a statement, the army said it had repositioned outside the city “in order to preserve the lives of civilians.”

Hours later, a rebel spokesman, Maj. Hassan Abdul Ghani, declared Hama “completely liberated.” The rebels commandeered police headquarters and a number of military airports, along with several neighboring villages. They have surrounded several pockets of army troops in countryside areas, according to pro-government and pro-rebel activists.

Spearheading the rebel offensive is Hayat Tahrir al Sham, a onetime Al Qaeda affiliate that broke ties with the group in 2016 and controls parts of Syria’s northwest. Joining them are Turkish-backed rebel factions that operate in the north.

Opposition activists and fighters posted videos on social media depicting their entry into Hama. Other images showed prisoners making a joyful exit from the city’s central prison after the rebels’ takeover. The government had detained tens of thousands of people — some estimates say well over 100,000 — in what rights groups have called gulag-like conditions.

The opposition’s success brings into question the outcome of a war that until last week Assad appeared to have won. In the space of eight days, the rebels have blitzed through areas they first took over in 2012, and that the government needed years to regain — with the backing of Iran and Russia.

Abandoned Syrian army vehicles sit on a road Tuesday with opposition insurgents controlling the outskirts of Hama.

(Ghaith Alsayed / Associated Press)

Winning Hama, under opposition control for the first time, gives rebels access to a major transport node connecting the country’s center to the north and the Mediterranean coastline, where Assad’s support is strongest.

There is symbolism too. Hama is notorious for the 1982 massacre, when President Hafez Assad — Bashar Assad’s father — ordered troops to subdue a Muslim Brotherhood revolt, destroying two-thirds of the city and killing tens of thousands of people.

The rebels have now set their sights on Homs, the central province that witnessed some of the most vicious fighting in the civil war.

The setback comes at an inopportune time for Assad, with both his main allies dealing with crises elsewhere. Russia is distracted with Ukraine and unable — or unwilling — to devote significant military resources, while Iran and Hezbollah are still reeling from Israel’s campaign against the Lebanese militant group.