Syrian rebels capture Hama for first time since 2011

just over a week since it started and this extraordinary Rebel Advance rolls on right into the heart of Syria's fourth largest city hamama the islamist fighters of hayat T Alam cheered as they go what's the situation where are we asks one we in the center of Hama comes the reply nearby the city's prison this is a regime that specializes in arbitrary detention 130,000 people people estimated to have been disappeared since 2011 but the regime is now gone from this city and these men are suddenly free may God destroy us sad we got rid of him

may the Lord burn his heart we are 1500 prisoners with 50 crammed in one room may God burn his heart for decades of center of anti-assad opposition the capture of hamama is a major moment showing the growing ambition of these forces and their Sunny islamist leader who broke with Al-Qaeda 8 years ago and is trying to reassure the country's many minorities that his Fighters aren't a threat good news my brothers your muah Brothers the revolutionaries have started to enter the city of hammer to cleanse the wound that has persisted in Syria for 40 years I

pray to God that this will be a conquest without Vengeance but one of mercy and compassion on Sunday the Syrian military put out this footage of the army Chief rallying troops north of hammer promising to crush the Insurgency and reclaim territory instead the Army said today it was redeploying outside the city to save civilian lives but abandoned military vehicles even more so abandoned fighter jets suggests anything but a strategic withdrawal it seems again Syrian lines collapsed in chaos at the height of the Arab Spring hamama was one of the main centers of anti-assad protest a

city marked by a 1982 regime Massacre that killed anywhere up to 40,000 people but its fall is more than symbolic it's strategic this is the scene tonight in HS south of hammer civilians fleeing for the coast notably not even the capital Damascus if the regime loses hums it risks losing its link to the Mediterranean to the Asad family Heartland to key Roots into Lebanon to the north 6 days after Aleppo fell to the Rebels the Syrian Civil Defense saw white helmets trying to restore some order on the battle stwn streets still much though for civilians

here to fear will HTS keep its promises to preserve cultural and religious diversity will Russian and Syrian aircraft soon be back on bombing runs that's the collective punishment using battel bombs using in some occasions chemical uh weapon and the regime already bombed the biggest Hospital in alipo University Hospital the Russians bombed uh five hospitals in idlib three of them came out of service due to these attacks and the civilians are so worried tonight in hmer they're celebrating in the same square where they defied the Assad regime in the hundreds of thousands in 2011 we're coming

to homes these men say we're coming for you Asad a regime that for years has projected stability Victory is now gripped by a crisis just nine days old that's slipping into existential territory well joining me now is Hamza Al a Syrian doctor and activist who live through much of the siege in Aleppo thank you so much for joining us this evening um this is really personal for you watching on of course what have you heard many people have been surprised by the advance are you I mean like thank you for having me actually those days

were like the last like kind of two weeks for us in in alipo during uh during The Siege and uh it was a surprise because since then we like as syrians we were certain that we were let down by the International Community we were let down by like any source of Hope of accountability of all the displacement the war crimes the attacks on Healthcare facilities we we we we were left alone and all the conversation about normalization back with the Assad regime from the EU Italy has reopened their like Embassy a few weeks ago uh

the uh like turkey the Arab League and like we felt like yeah like no one kind of cared about the suffering or the war crimes and this really changed like a lot and just do you think the next city on the road to Damascus is Holmes can you see that falling as well do you think that's on the horizon I mean if you ask me a month from now I would say there is no light at the end of the tunnel and we don't like we just have just to raise our voices outside as like

diaspora forced to to leave our our homes but now I can see myself and my family even returning like they're marching now to hes uh the there are Russian or air strikes on like some bridges that connect hamah to HS so they're also anticipating that and the military operation in in in Syria like has announced that their next stop will be uh will be homes uh so if aleo like Alo then H now it feels like everything is possible and you say you have some hope there you say everything is possible could that be the

end of the regime and is that what you're thinking I mean any any any area that the regime lost is a huge win for for Humanity the the images of the tenes going out from Hamas presence and alipo presence like if that's the outcome of what happened that's more than enough there were people that left out like that were released today that were in pres since 1980 and like verified the commented that they were in prison since since then so like it's it's it's a hope for for for everyone any any fallback of those that

the AL Assad dictatorship is is uh is a win for for all and this Advance why I say everything is possible because like the fact that you know like Iranian and hisbah militias are not supportive of Al asset like what happened between 2012 until 2016 and similar like with the Russian they're still there and there are still some Russian air strikes but not as effective as what we had in alipo uh that shows like how what like what we always said that the regime is not controlling Syria it's actually the hisbah militias the Iranian militias

and the Russian military operations