The Syrian army has retreated from the city of Hama after rebels breached its defenses, military officials stated on Thursday, marking another setback for President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies.
The Syrian army announced that it has repositioned itself outside Hama to safeguard the lives of civilians.
On Thursday morning, Syrian rebels declared that they had entered Hama after three days of intense clashes with government forces on the city's outskirts as part of an ongoing offensive.
Later, the Syrian army reported in a statement that several soldiers were killed after days of resistance against the rebels. The military accused the rebels of relying on suicide bombers to penetrate the city's defenses.
Earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the jihadist group "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" and its allied rebel organizations had surrounded Hama.
The UK-based organization, which monitors events through an extensive network of activists, claims that the group has taken control of several villages to the north, west, and south of Hama to penetrate the Syrian capital from those directions.
Some of these villages are located less than three kilometers from Hama, where the majority of the population is opposed to Assad.
Reports indicate that the rebels have seized a military airfield in Hama, one of the largest in the country.
Analysts believe that the next target for the rebels is the city of Homs.
Syrian human rights activists report that authorities are conducting forced mobilization, including of minors, sending them to the front lines.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) has documented large-scale raids and mass arrests carried out by military police, the army, and security forces of the Syrian regime. These operations have targeted hundreds of young men and even boys for conscription into the army and immediate deployment to the front in northern Syria.
Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city, was captured last week following a sudden offensive by militants. According to the Observatory, by Wednesday, 700 people had been killed in the fighting, including around 150 civilians. The UN estimates that in just the past week, 115,000 people have been forced to flee their homes.
Russia, which supports Syrian government forces, continues to assess the situation, according to a spokesperson for Vladimir Putin.
"We are in constant dialogue with our Syrian friends in Damascus. Depending on the assessment of the situation, we will be able to discuss the level of assistance needed by the Syrian authorities to deal with the militants and eliminate this threat," said Dmitry Peskov.
Hama is a major city in Syria that connects the center of the country with the north, as well as the east and west. It is located about 200 kilometers north of the capital, Damascus, where Assad resides. Hama province also borders the coastal province of Latakia, the main stronghold of Assad's support.