Reports on Wednesday pointed to a continuing insurgent advance in Hama Province, nearing Hama city and one of the regime’s major military airports.
Opposition fighters reportedly took the villages of Arzeh & al-Sheyha, only a few kilometers west of Hama (see map), and there was heavy fighting further to the west in Kafer Altoun.
In a sign of the seriousness of the threat, the Syrian military has withdrawn troops from Morek, the key town north of Hama which it has attacked for months, to reinforce Hama.
State news agency SANA’s only reference to the offensive this morning: “A military source said the army units clashed with terrorists near Aqairbat village in Hama countryside and killed and injured scores of them.”
Hama, Syria’s 4th-largest city, is in the west-center of the country. In 1982, tens of thousands of people were killed there by President Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, amid an uprising. Scene of some of the largest protests from March 2011 against the current regime, it was secured by the Syrian military in 2012.
The Hama Military Airport is important as a center for the production of barrel bombs as well as aerial attacks on insurgent-held areas. It is also a key transport hub for Syrian forces moving to the north and south of the country.
Base Rahbet Khattab cercana a Hama tomada por los rebeldes:
[youtube]MH8swsgFPxA[/youtube]
