Footage has appeared online showing militants from the terrorist group Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS) making their way into the Syrian city of Hama, after it was abandoned by government forces.
The Syrian military announced its withdrawal from Hama on Thursday amid a surprise offensive by the jihadists. It said that after several days of “fierce battles” a decision was made to retreat in order “to preserve the lives of civilians” and not to involve them in the fighting. According to the military, the militants suffered “heavy losses” in their advance on the city.
In the video, which was uploaded online on Friday, numerous pickup trucks and motorcycles with members of HTS, previously known as Jabhat al-Nusra, can be seen driving along the streets of Hama.
Gunshots are heard in the background as the terrorists appear to be celebrating the capture of the city by firing into the air.
The footage also shows at least one armored vehicle, abandoned by government forces, and a destroyed military truck.
Some locals were filmed cheering and waving to the militants as they drove by.
Hama, which has a population of just under a million, is strategically located in central Syria on the Aleppo-Damascus highway, about 200km north of the capital Damascus, and some 50km from another key city, Homs.
The terrorists launched their attack from the northern province of Idlib last week, taking the Syrian military by surprise and swiftly seizing control of the country’s second largest city, Aleppo, while advancing in other areas.
The Russian military, which has been aiding Damascus since 2015, previously reported conducting strikes on HTS positions, which it claimed had killed hundreds of militants. Moscow is analyzing the situation to determine the level of assistance that Syria needs to deal with the jihadi offensive, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
The UN said on Friday that around 280,000 people have been displaced since the launch of the terrorist advance. Samer AbdelJaber, who heads emergency coordination at the UN’s World Food Program (WFP), warned that the number of refugees could eventually reach 1.5 million.