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Rebels Storm Another Major City in Syria
In another startling setback for President Bashar al-Assad, government forces retreated from the city of Hama after rebels advanced.
Reporting from Istanbul
Syrian rebels stormed into the city of Hama on Thursday as government forces withdrew, another stunning setback for President Bashar al-Assad.
The swift advance on Hama, which was confirmed by both the rebel side and the Syrian government, comes just days after the rebels extended their control over Aleppo, a major hub in northern Syria.
The sudden rebel advance has shifted the front lines in Syria’s 13-year-old civil war for the first time in years, adding a new layer of unpredictability to a conflict that has ravaged the country and created a long-term refugee crisis for many neighboring countries.
Analysts have attributed the rebel’s surprise success to the cumulative attrition of the war on Mr. al-Assad’s forces and to the fact that foreign allies who have intervened powerfully on his behalf in the past — notably Russia, Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — are now preoccupied with their own crises.
Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, is recovering from a war with Israel that killed many of its leaders and displaced many of its supporters. And Russia — which dispatched its military to bomb rebel areas, turning the war’s tide in favor of Mr. al-Assad years ago — has diverted its attention toward its invasion of Ukraine.
The rebels behind the offensive are a combination of forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which evolved from an affiliate of Al Qaeda. But the group says it has cut ties with the global terrorist organization. Other groups backed by Turkey and based in Syrian territory just south of the Turkish border have also joined in the fight.
The rebels announced on Thursday that they were entering Hama, one of Syria’s largest cities. A rebel commander, Lt. Col. Hassan Abdulghany, said in a social media statement that government forces were in “a significant state of confusion,” with soldiers and commanders abandoning their posts.
The Syrian military issued its own statement, saying that its forces had withdrawn from the city after rebels broke through its defenses.
Ben Hubbard is the Istanbul bureau chief, covering Turkey and the surrounding region. More about Ben Hubbard
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