The regime in Damascus had held Hama since the start of the civil war in 2011, and its loss threatens the nearby city of Homs.
Rebel groups have captured the central Syrian city of Hama, just days after they seized Aleppo from President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in a surprise offensive.
Led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former affiliate of al-Qaeda, and the Syrian National Army, a group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias, the insurgents entered the city on Thursday after days of fighting with regime forces.
The Syrian army, which remains loyal to al-Assad, said it had withdrawn from Hama “to preserve the lives of civilians”.
Meanwhile, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the founder of HTS, promised in a video message to treat the town’s populace well, saying the rebels’ capture of the city is “not vengeful, but one of mercy and compassion”.
The loss of Hama, which al-Assad has held since the start of the country’s civil war in 2011, is a significant blow to the regime and its backers in Russia and Iran.
It comes less than a week after government troops abandoned the city of Aleppo in the north.
Aleppo had been under al-Assad’s control since 2016, when heavy Russian airstrikes allowed him to retake it from the opposition.
The contours of the war have been largely frozen in recent years, with rebels confined to an enclave in the country’s northwest.
However, this all changed with the counteroffensive that started on 27 November.
Hama has a long history opposing the al-Assad family. It was the scene of an uprising in 1982, which was brutally quashed by the security forces of Hafez al-Assad, the current president’s father. Thousands of people were killed in the violence.
The regime will now likely have to turn its attention to Homs, the country’s third largest city, which is only around 25 miles from Hama — and which serves a gateway to Damascus in the south.
Additional sources • AP
