Syrian rebels continued their rapid advance across northwest Syria on Sunday, with reports of the alliance pushing south and closing in on the city of Hama in the country’s west-central area.
The rebel coalition, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and known as the “Deterrence of Aggression” Operations Room, has taken control of Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, including its airport.
Since launching its offensive against the Assad regime and its Iranian and Russian allies on Wednesday, the coalition has also seized the entire Idlib province.
A spokesperson for the rebel operation, Hussein Abdul Ghani, announced that its fighters had taken control of two airports – Aleppo International Airport and the Kuweires military airbase, located in the eastern countryside of Aleppo.
Since 2022, the airport has been subjected to a series of Israeli airstrikes, which caused it to be temporarily out of service on numerous occasions.
Reports over the years have also emerged that the airport has been used to transfer Iranian weapons and fighters to the Syrian regime.
The Syrian army airbase of Abu al-Duhr, located in eastern Idlib, was also seized earlier on Saturday.
In response to the rapid advance of the opposition forces, armed forces loyal to the regime of Bashar al-Assad evacuated several sites, paving the way for unprecedented rebel advances.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the Assad-loyal Syrian army said it was redeploying forces from areas it had controlled in Aleppo and Idlib provinces with the aim of “strengthening the defence lines to absorb the attack”.
However, now the rebels appear to be closing in on Hama, with reports on Saturday night and Sunday morning of fighters entering the outskirts of the city, having taken control of several towns previously held by the Assad regime along the way.
These include key locations such as Halfaya, Morek, Ltamenah, Kafr Zita, Qalaat al-Madiq and Kafr Nabudah, among others, as reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
However, contrary to claims that Assad regime forces had melted away in Hamas in a manner similar to many areas of Aleppo and eastern Idlib, sources claim that they are regrouping and setting up checkpoints to defend their position in Hama.
The Syrian Regime has reportedly sent a significantly large force to Hama, including Special Forces affiliated with commander Suhayl al-Hasan, to strategic locations in and around Hama.
This comes as Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi is expected in Damascus on Sunday.
A senior Iraqi official said that Baghdad was sending reinforcements to Iraq’s border with Syria “to prevent terrorist groups from infiltrating” the country.
Iran, along with Russia, has been a key backer of Assad since the civil war began when the Syrian dictator sent in the army to kill peaceful protesters in 2011. Tens of thousands of Iranian and Iranian-aligned proxy forces currently occupy Syria, propping up Assad’s rule.
“I am going to Damascus to convey the message of the Islamic Republic to the Syrian government,” Araghchi said, emphasising Tehran will “firmly support the Syrian government and army,” the IRNA state news agency reported.
On Sunday morning, the city of Idlib was hit by several Russian air strikes, killing at least one person, SOHR reported. On Saturday, Russian strikes killed 17 people in the rebel-held province.
The “Deterrence of Aggression” offensive in northwest Syria has reignited what many believe was Syria’s stagnant civil war.
Groups in Idlib launched it as a means to stop the Assad regime’s continued shelling of civilian areas in Idlib.
