Syrian Army Withdraws From Key City of Hama as Terrorist Groups Advance

A Syrian Kurdish woman, fleeing from north of Aleppo, stands leaning on a bullet-riddled wall upon arriving in Tabqa, on the western outskirts of Raqa, on Dec. 4, 2024. Delil SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

The Syrian army says it has withdrawn from the key Syrian city of Hama, leaving it in the hands of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Sunni Islamist terrorist group that began as a branch of al-Qaeda.

After two days of intense clashes, forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appear to have lost control of Hama, a city in central Syria that has remained in the hands of the government throughout the Syrian civil war.

HTS may now target the country’s third largest city, Homs, which is 25 miles farther south and controls not only the road to Damascus, but also the supply route from the coast, through which the Assad regime receives weapons and food from Russia and Iran.

HTS is designated as a terrorist group by most of the West as well as Russia. The Salafist Sunni Islamic faction formed from Jabhat al-Nusra, which itself began as a wing of al-Qaeda in Syria.

On Dec. 5, the Syrian Ministry of Defense posted a statement on Facebook.

“Over the past few days, our armed forces have been fighting against and thwarted violent and successive attacks on the city of Hama by the terrorist organizations from different axes and in large numbers using all means and military equipment,” a translation of the statement reads.

The defense ministry said the fighting had intensified in the past 24 hours and that the terrorist groups had managed to penetrate the city’s defenses, despite taking heavy losses.

“In order to preserve the lives of the civilians of the city of Hama and not get involved in the battles inside the cities, the military units associated with it have repurposed and deployed outside the city,” the statement said.

‘Invaded by Terrorist Organizations’

But the army’s general command promises to continue to “perform its national duty in restoring territories invaded by terrorist organizations.”

HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani announced the taking of Hama in a video message that was shared on social media, calling it a “conquering that is not vengeful, but one of mercy and compassion.”

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), an unofficial body that monitors Syria using open sources, said that after a fierce battle, HTS took control of the city of Hama and the nearby air base, as well as the central prison, from which hundreds of detainees were set free by the terrorist group.

Before the city fell, SOHR chief Rami Abdurrahman said, “If Hama falls, it means that the beginning of the regime’s fall has started.”

Assad took over as president and leader of the ruling Ba'ath Party after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, in 2000.

Assads Have Ruled Since 1970s

Hafez al-Assad, a secular Arab who came to power in the early 1970s, ruled Syria with an iron fist.

In 1982, after a Muslim Brotherhood uprising in Homs, his forces massacred thousands of civilians.

The Assad regime is dominated by an elite from the Alawite Islamic religious minority, who are considered heretics by Sunni Islamists such as HTS.

The HTS appears to be in an alliance with a Turkish-backed militia called the Syrian National Army, which controls much of the area along the border with Turkey.

The sudden capture of Aleppo, an ancient trade hub, over the weekend was a major blow for Assad, whose Russian allies have been distracted by the war in Ukraine.

An undated image of a poster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (L) and his late father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria. Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images

In 2016, Russian jets bombed Aleppo and enabled the Assad regime to retake the city after it was briefly lost.

The Assad regime is also supported by Iran and Hezbollah, both of whom have suffered setbacks as a result of clashes with Israel, following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

On Dec. 4, Robert Joseph, who was an undersecretary of state for arms control and international security under President George W. Bush, said the “swift and stunning reversals” for the Assad regime meant Iran’s foreign policy had “backfired” and “further weakened the regime at home.”

He said of the Iranian regime, ”Its fate is clear, it will fail and it will end.”

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.