Damascus – A report said that the areas of Syria’s Hama province captured by Syrian insurgents came under heavy air attack on Thursday as government forces sought to counter a major rebel assault.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said in Damascus that the area is of strategic importance to President Bashar al-Assad.
The group said that the rebel thrust in Hama marked a new challenge to Assad and his allies in a part of Syria where he has tried to consolidate his grip on power against a more than five-year-old insurgency.
“The attack that begins on Tuesday is the biggest coordinated rebel offensive in Hama province since 2014.
“More than 25 people including six children had been killed in the air strikes overnight,’’ it said.
Meanwhile, Syrian television said the air force had carried out “concentrated strikes” against what it described as terrorists in the area, saying tens of them had been killed.
It said that the rebel groups taking part include the jihadist Jund al-Aqsa and factions fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
Jaish al-Nasr, one of the FSA groups, said in a statement released overnight that two commanders and three other of its combatants had been killed in the Hama battles.
He confirmed that the rebels have captured a number of towns and villages in the attack.
al-Nasr said that the targeted area is populated by Christians and Alawites loyal to the government and is close to the mountain heartland of Assad’s Alawite sect. (Reuters/NAN)