Aleppo, Syria

Syrian government forces launched airstrikes on a major highway linking the cities of Homs and Hama in a bid to thwart the advances of rebel groups, a war monitor said Friday (Dec 6). On Thursday, Islamist fighters took control of the strategic city of Hama; which is just 40 kilometres away from Homs, Syria’s third-largest city.

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“Fighter jets executed several airstrikes, targeting Al-Rastan bridge on (the) Homs-Hama highway... as well as attacking positions around the bridge, attempting to cut off the road between Hama and Homs and secure Homs," the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The war monitor added that forces of Syria President Bashar al-Assad had also placed soil barriers on the highway north of Homs. Following the capture of Hama after street battles between rebels of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and the Syrian army, panic-struck residents of Homs, especially those hailing from Assad's Alawite minority community, were seen fleeing the city.

Watch: Iran Sends Regional Fighters To Syria: Can They Save Assad Again?

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Earlier, rebels were seen firing celebratory gunfire as they entered Syria's fourth-largest city of Hama. AFP reported several residents appeared to welcome the rebels. Syrian Defence Minister Ali Abbas claimed that the army’s withdrawal from Hama was a "temporary tactical measure".

"Our forces are still in the vicinity," he said in a statement carried by the official SANA news agency.

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In a statement released later, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani said his fighters had entered Hama to "cleanse the wound that has endured in Syria for 40 years", referring to a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in 1982, which led to thousands of deaths.

Since the rebels launched their offensive last week and seized the strategic city of Aleppo; at least 826 people, including soldiers, civilians and rebels, have died. It marks the most intense fighting since 2020 in the civil war sparked by the repression of pro-democracy protests in 2011.

(With inputs from agencies)