On Thursday, at least 25 civilians, including six children, were killed in suspected government airstrikes on Hama province as rebels made new gains there, activists said.
The Hama-based Syrian Press Center, an activist group operated by Ahmed al-Ahmed, said at least 10 people were killed when warplanes struck a crowd of people displaced from Suran, a town north of the city of Hama, which was seized by opposition fighters. Another 15 people were killed further to the west, the center said.
Photo provided by the Syria Press Center (SPC), an anti-government media group, showed rescue workers using a bulldozer to remove a burned van after airstrikes hit west of the town of Suran in Hama province, Syria, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, killing a dozen people. (Syria Press Center via AP)
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 the north of the province, where they are usually based, south toward government-held areas.
Al-Ahmed said the rebels were only 8 kilometers (5 miles) away from the provincial capital, Hama. They have taken over a government military base and control several towns along the highway linking Hama to Damascus, following a “surprising” government retreat, he said.
The Associated Press.