Sharjah 24 – AFP: Rebels advanced Tuesday on Syria's fourth-largest city Hama, buoyed by their lightning capture of swathes of the north in an offensive that ended four years of relative calm.
The sudden flare-up in the more than decade-old civil war in Syria, just as a fragile ceasefire took effect in neighbouring Lebanon, drew appeals for de-escalation from across the international community.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies met much tougher resistance in the countryside north of Hama than they did in the Aleppo region on Friday and Saturday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Observatory reported the heaviest fighting with government forces so far as the offensive entered its seventh day.
"Clashes have erupted in the northern Hama countryside, where rebel factions managed to seize several cities and towns in the last few hours," the Observatory said.
"Syrian and Russian air forces carried out dozens of strikes on the area."
Syrian state media reported that the two air forces had bombed the rebels in their Idlib stronghold as well as their vanguard in Hama province.
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