Hama, another big city of Syria, has been captured by the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). HTS fighters are now moving towards Homs, an important city of Syria. They have also captured some areas of Homs. After capturing Homs, they will move towards the capital Damascus. According to news agency AFP, the Syrian army has destroyed the highway connecting Homs and Hama by air strikes to stop the rebels. Homs city is just 40 km away from Hama. After the capture of Hama, people of the Shia community living in Homs city have started fleeing the city. The Russian army has fired several missiles to stop the HTS rebels, but they have not been able to stop their advance. After capturing Hama, HTS commander Abu Mohammed al-Julani has given a message of victory. 5 footages after HTS rebels captured Hama… HTS chief said – Assad government’s days are numbered
Julani said that his aim is to oust Assad government from Syria. He gave an interview to CNN from a secret place in Syria. Julani said that dictatorship will end in Syria and people’s government will be elected. He said that Assad family has ruled Syria for 40 years. But now Assad government is dead. It survived for some time with the help of Iranians. Later Russians also helped them, but the reality is that their rule has numbered days left. The conflict between the army and HTS has been going on in Syria since 27 November. The rebels had earlier captured Syria’s second largest city Aleppo on 1 December. So far 826 people have been killed in this war in Syria. This is the most fierce battle since the civil war started in Syria in 2011. Rebel fighters were fighting for 3 days for Hama Rebel fighters were fighting with the army for the last 3 days to capture Hama. The army alleged that the rebels carried out suicide attacks to break the defense line. During this time many soldiers have been killed while fighting with the rebels. Hama is the fourth largest city in Syria. Even during the civil war that started in Syria in 2011, the rebels could not capture Hama. Even then this city was under government control. In such a situation, the capture of the rebels here this time is a big victory for them. Earlier on Saturday, the rebels captured the city of Aleppo. It is Syria’s major trade hub. HTS became Syria’s largest organization HTS has previously been associated with Al Qaeda. The Sunni group HTS is led by Abu Mohammad al-Julani. Julani has been a threat to the Al Assad government for the past several years. According to reports, Al-Julani was born in 1982 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His father was a petroleum engineer there. In 1989, Julani’s family returned to Syria and settled near Damascus. Julani left his medical studies and joined al-Qaeda after the US attack on Iraq in 2003. He was close to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in al-Qaeda. After Zarqawi’s assassination in 2006, Julani spent time in Lebanon and Iraq. In 2006 itself, Julani was arrested by the US Army in Iraq. He was released after spending 5 years in prison. After this, he joined the Islamic State. In 2011, Julani came to Syria amid protests against Assad. After this, he formed Jabhat al-Nusra and waged a war against the Assad government. In 2017, al-Nusra joined some other terrorist groups to form Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). HTS is now the most powerful rebel group in Syria. Before occupying Aleppo and Hama, this organization had control over Idlib. According to reports, this organization has 30 thousand fighters. The US had put this organization on the terrorist list in 2018. Will the Assad government rule end? Ibrahim al-Asil, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington DC, said that the real fight between Assad’s army and the rebel group has not started yet. Assad is working on an old strategy, which has worked for him before. First retreat, unite, fortify and then counter-attack. If the rebels want to win, they should know when to stop. Assad can also use chemical weapons to stop these rebels. The civil war started in Syria in 2011 The civil war in Syria started with the Arab revolution in 2011. The people of Syria started protests against the Bashar al-Assad government, which has been in power for 10 years. After this, a rebel group named ‘Free Syrian Army’ was formed. With the formation of the rebel group, the civil war started in Syria. This conflict increased after the US, Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia joined it. Meanwhile, the terrorist organization ISIS also spread its feet in Syria. After the ceasefire agreement of 2020, only sporadic clashes have taken place here. According to the United Nations report, more than 3 lakh people were killed in the civil war that lasted for a decade. Apart from this, millions of people had to be displaced. ——————————————– Also read this news related to the war in Syria… Rebels in Syria captured Aleppo city in 4 days: Army fled, people ordered to stay in their homes; 300 killed in Russian attack Rebel groups in Syria have captured most parts of Aleppo city within 4 days. According to CNN report, the attack started on Wednesday and by Saturday, the fighters took control of a large part of Aleppo by capturing the surrounding villages. Read the full news here…
