Syrian government forces pressed a counterattack against rebels around the key city of Hama on Wednesday after suffering a string of staggering losses further north, a war monitor said.
Hama is strategically located in central Syria and, for the army, it is crucial to safeguarding the capital and seat of power Damascus.
The head of the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, on Wednesday visited Aleppo's landmark citadel. Images posted on the rebels' Telegram channel showed Jolani waving to supporters from an open-top car as he visited the historic fortress.
While the advancing rebels found little resistance earlier in their offensive, the fighting around Hama has been especially fierce.
Rebel forces reached the gates of Hama on Tuesday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, and the fighting sparked a wave of displacement.
The Britain-based war monitor said government forces backed by air support launched a counterattack on the HTS rebels and allied factions in Hama province on Wednesday.
By the afternoon, the government forces had secured the northeastern outskirts of the city as well as several villages, it added. Assad ordered a 50 percent raise in career soldiers' pay, state news agency SANA reported, as he seeks to bolster his forces for the counteroffensive.
A military source cited by SANA reported "fierce battles" against the rebels in northern Hama province since morning, adding that "joint Syrian-Russian warplanes" were part of the effort.
German news agency DPA announced the killing of award-winning Syrian photographer Anas Alkharboutli in an air strike near Hama
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