BEIRUT — Suspected government warplanes carried out several airstrikes in Syria’s Hama on Thursday, killing at least 25 people, amid a lightning advance by insurgents on government-controlled areas of the central province.
The rebel offensive is led by an ultraconservative Islamic group, Jund al-Aqsa, and several factions from the western-backed Free Syrian Army. In the past three days, the insurgents have pushed their way from northern Hama, where they are usually based, down south toward government-held areas.
Local activist Ahmed al-Ahmed said the rebels were only eight kilometers (five miles) away from the provincial capital, Hama. The insurgents have taken over a government military base and are in control of several towns along the highway linking it to the capital, Damascus, following a “surprising” government retreat, he said.
The advances in Hama are significant because if rebels control the city and the highway they can sever government supply lines and deprive President Bashar Assad of a traditional stronghold. Clashes are now concentrated around a hill outside the provincial capital, also called Hama, al-Ahmed said.