Syrian insurgents say they have entered the city of Hama after fierce fighting

Syrian insurgents said on Thursday that they have entered parts of the central city of Hama after three days of intense clashes with government forces on its outskirts, part of an ongoing offensive in which they seized Syria’s largest city of Aleppo.

Syrian state media confirmed violent clashes between government forces and opposition gunmen on the eastern outskirts of Hama city but denied that the insurgents had breached it.

Hama is one of the few cities that remained under full government control during Syria’s conflict, which broke out in March 2011. Its capture would be a major setback for President Bashar Assad.

The offensive is being led by the jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as well as an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army.

Their sudden capture of the northern city of Aleppo, an ancient business hub, was a stunning prize for Mr Assad’s opponents.

It was the first opposition attack on the city since 2016 when a brutal Russian air campaign retook it for Mr Assad after rebel forces had initially seized it.

Intervention by Russia, Iran, Iranian-allied Hezbollah and other militant groups has allowed Mr Assad to remain in power.

The latest flare-up in Syria’s long civil war comes as Mr Assad’s main regional and international backers are preoccupied with their own wars.

The insurgents have claimed that they have entered Hama and are marching toward its centre.

“Our forces are taking positions inside the city of Hama,” the insurgents said on Telegram, quoting a local commander identified as Major Hassan Abdul-Ghani.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said gunmen had entered parts of the city, mainly the neighbourhoods of Sawaaeq and Zahiriyeh to the north west.

It added that gunmen are also on the edge of the northwestern neighbourhood of Kazo.

The Observatory’s chief, Rami Abdurrahman, told The Associated Press: “If Hama falls, it means that the beginning of the regime’s fall has started.”

Hama is a major intersection point in Syria that links that country’s centre with the north as well as the east and the west. It is about 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of the capital, Damascus, Mr Assad’s seat of power.

Hama province also borders the coastal province of Latakia, a main base of popular support for Mr Assad.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the offensive, which began on November 27.