Syrian army responds to massive rebel attack in Hama

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The Syrian army and rebels fought intensively on Friday after a major attack on areas recently captured by the government forces in the central province of Hama, state media and activists reported.

The Syrian army eliminated rebel groups that attacked areas in the northwestern countryside of Hama, reported state news agency SANA.

It said the army fired on rebel supply routes along the southern countryside of Idlib. Soldiers targeted hundreds of foreign rebels in the northwestern countryside of Hama, destroying their weapons and killing many of them.

The rebels succeeded last night in infiltrating the villages of Kafr Houd and Tal Mileh in northwestern Hama.

Following the clashes, the army retook areas that had fallen to the rebels in their latest attack.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said intense fighting was taking place in the countryside of Hama as the Syrian government's forces were carrying out a counter-offensive with the help of warplanes and ground shelling.

The Britain-based group said the army regained control over Kafr Houd village and is fighting to restore the Tal Mileh strategic hilltop that overlooks a key road in Hama countryside.

Thirty people from both sides have so far been killed as a result of the battles that flared late on Thursday, said the group.

Areas of the countryside of Hama, Idlib and Aleppo provinces are included in a deal on de-escalation zones agreed in September 2018 by Russia and Turkey.

The deal didn't materialize as battles have escalated since late April this year.

(Cover photo: Syrian government forces near a damaged building at the entrance of the town Kafr Nabuda, in the north of the Syrian Hama province, May 26, 2019. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency