| 2024 Hama offensive | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theNorthwestern Syria offensive (2024) during theSyrian civil war | |||||||||
 Syrian rebels atHama Military Airport | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Syrian Arab Republic Russia[1] Hezbollah | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Ahmed al-Sharaa | Lt. Gen.Abdul Karim Mahmoud Ibrahim[7] Maj. Gen.Suhayl al-Hasan[8] Brig. Gen. Adi Ghosa †[9] Mihrac Ural[10] | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
73+ fighters killed[a] 5 fighters killed[b] | 51+ soldiers killed[c] 13+ Iranian-backed militiamen killed[clarification needed] | ||||||||
| 17+ civilians killed[d] 115,000 people displaced[e] | |||||||||
The2024 Hama offensive was a military operation launched by forces of theSyrian Salvation Government (SSG) andTurkish-backed[20] rebel groups of theSyrian Interim Government (SIG) during the2024 Syrian opposition offensive, a phase of theSyrian civil war. The operation, which was launched by theMilitary Operations Command, took place in theHama Governorate.
On 5 December 2024, opposition forces captured Hama.[2]
On 27 November 2024, Syrian opposition groups led byTahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched an offensive onpro-government forces in northwestern Syria. This marked the first major offensive by any faction in the conflict since theMarch 2020 Idlib ceasefire. The operation resulted in the rapid capture of dozens of villages byopposition forces and a significant weakening of pro-government defenses. According to theSyrian Observatory for Human Rights, this caused some population displacement towards various Syrian cities, including Hama.[21]
Hama city is a strategic city which had supply lines to loyalist coastal strongholds[22] and is close to areas inhabited by Alawites who had largely backed the Assad government in the past. Furthermore, the city acts as junction connecting all four main areas of Syria: North, south, east and west. It links vital supply and transit lines between Damascus and Aleppo.[23][24]
On 30 November 2024, rebels took control of several towns, includingTaybat al-Imam,Kafr Zita,Latamneh, andMorek.[5]
My commanding officer told me to start shooting. He said if you don’t start shooting the enemy, you will be considered a traitor and punished. We kept being told: 'Don't retreat, backup is on the way,' but everyone knew that was a lie. There was no backup.
Consequently, rebel forces approached the outskirts ofHama and started closing in on the city.[26] Meanwhile, pro-government forces began withdrawing from both the city of Hama and itsairbase.[27] An unverified photo started circulating around on early 1 December, showing rebel forces entering the Al-Arba'een neighbourhood in Hama city.[28][unreliable source?]Al Jazeera English also reported that rebel forces had entered Hama.[29]
Following the rebel advances, the Syrian government sent reinforcements to stop the advancing rebel forces, along withspecial forces affiliated with Maj. Gen.Suhayl al-Hasan to strategic locations, includingJabal Zayn al-Abidin,Taybat al-Imam,Qamhana, andKhitab.[8][19] TheChief of the General Staff of the Army andSyrian Arab Armed Forces, Lt. GenAbdul Karim Mahmoud Ibrahim, arrived in Hama to oversee the military operations in northern Syria on 1 December 2024.[7] According toSyrian Resistance leaderMihrac Ural, the chief of staff tried to encourage a firm resistance at Hama, and several local pro-government commanders pledged to stand and fight.[10]
The next day, theSyrian Army managed to launch a counteroffensive that regained some territory in the Hama province and halted the rebel advance.[30] Russian airstrikes targeted rural parts ofIdlib andHama under rebel control.[1] According to Syrian state news agencySANA, the army overnight pushed back rebels in the northern countryside ofHama Governorate.[19] Both SANA and theSyrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that the Syrian Army succeeded in pushing the rebels back. The Syrian Observatory claimed that the reinforcements formed a "strong defensive line" in the north of Hama.[31] The rebels stated that they would push all the way toDamascus.[32]
On 1 December, as part of the renewed rebel advance into the southern Idlib, seven HTS fighters were killed inKhan Shaykhun by booby-trapped missiles in a former SAA warehouse that was abandoned by retreating government forces in the city.[15] On the same day, Brig. Gen. Adi Ghosa, commander of theMilitary Security branch in Hama city, was killed in a rebel drone strike.[9] Other commanders such asColonel Makhlouf Makhlouf started to desert as the insurgents kept advancing.[33]
On 2 December, a rebel drone strike targeting a gathering of pro-government military leaders nearJabal Zayn al-Abidin, north of Hama, caused multiple deaths and injuries among their ranks.[34] By the afternoon, clashes between opposition and pro-government forces intensified inHama Governorate, particularly near the towns ofKarnaz andSuran. In the eastern Hama countryside, opposition forces made advances, capturing the town ofQasr Abu Samrah.[35] In the evening, the heaviest clashes since the start of the offensive took place between opposition and pro-government forces in northern Hama region, with Russian and government aircraft carrying out more than 45 airstrikes. Opposition forces took control of the villages of al-Jubain,Tell Malah,Jalamah, al-Jubain, Breidej, Karnaz and al-Karkat, while pro-government forces were able to thwart attempts to advance onQalaat al-Madiq.[36][37] Opposition forces' rocket shelling of Hama city killed eight civilians.[38] Clashes also occurred on the frontline in theAl-Ghab Plain, amid a failed HTS offensive where at least ten HTS members were killed attacking SAA positions.[17]
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On 3 December, rebel forces continued their advance on the pro-government forces, capturing the towns of Taybat al-Imam, Halfaya, Soran, and Maardis.[39] Fighting intensified in the evening between opposition and pro-government forces, as the rebels took control of more than 10 town of villages and reached the outskirts of Hama.[40] At least 17 SAA soldiers and 8 HTS fighters were killed in heavy clashes north of Hama. Two civilians were also killed by HTS shelling in the city.[16]
Anas Alkharboutli, a photographer working forDPA, was killed in an airstrike inMorek, near Hama.[41]
On 4 December, SAA forces launched a counter-offensive to regain possession of thetracked military vehicles academy, 18 km to the northeast of Hama city.[13] Another offensive was conducted by HTS forces on the village of Al-Kareem, adjacent to Al-Bared village near Joureen, where SAA forces repelled the rebel attacks. In the day of offensives on the Hama frontline, at least 48 HTS fighters, 5 SNA fighters and 34 SAA soldiers were killed.[18] By the evening, opposition forces had cut off the roads connecting Hama toRaqqa and Aleppo and took control of the villages ofShaykh Hilal,Al-Saan, and Sarouj in the eastern Hama country side.[42] Heavy clashes continued into the night with the rebels capturing the towns ofKhitab andMubarakat, while fighting persisted in Jabal Zayn al-Abidin.[43] A Local Defence Forces veteran later claimed that the loyalist forces at Khitab were overrun because a contingent of Syrian Army tanks defected to the rebels, attacking still-loyal militia forces from behind.[14]
At the end of the day, rebel forces were able to surround Hama city from three directions and were about four kilometers away. Pro-government forces were still in control of the strategic Hama-Homs route and brought "large military convoys" to the embattled city in the past 24 hours. In the western Hama countryside, fighting approached theLatakia region, mainly populated byAlawites.[44]
On 5 December, opposition forces entered the northeastern part of Hama city after capturing the 66th Brigade base east of Hama city. Airstrikes by pro-government forces were reported on the eastern side, concurrently with fighting opposition forces.[45] The Turkish-backedSultan Suleiman Shah Division led byMuhammad al-Jassem (Abu Amsha) joined the fight for control over the city.[12]
On the same day, SAA forces withdrew from Hama city. Rebel forces also entered Hama's central prison and freed hundreds of inmates who they said were "wrongfully detained" by the regime.[46][47][3] By the afternoon, opposition forces had established full control over the city and adjacent military airport.[2][6] In a statement, Syrian government said that its "military units had been redeployed and repositioned outside the city" to "preserve the lives of civilians" after opposition forces were able to "penetrate several parts of the city",[46][47] and "significant" number of Hama residents fled.[6]
On 5 December 2024, pro-government forces withdrew from the cities ofSalamiyah andTalbiseh towards the city ofHoms, hours after their withdrawal from Hama as rebels approached the former towns outskirts.[48] In the evening, opposition forces entered Salamiyah without fighting, after reaching an agreement with the city's elders and the religiousIsmaili council.[4]
After the fall of Hama, the war was widely considered lost for the Syrian government. Pro-Assad Iraqi militias were ordered to retreat from Syria after 5 December, as their officers concluded that effective resistance was no longer possible.[33] Government loyalists publicly downplayed the event, withMinister of DefenseAli Mahmoud Abbas describing it as a mere "tactical measure", or spreadconspiracy theories about a fictitious counter-attack by Syrian paratroopers encircling the insurgents in the city.[49] The Ba'athist leadership attempted to organize a defense ofDamascus, butthe city fell on 8 December.[25][50]
After thefall of the Assad regime, some former government loyalists claimed that the battle for Hama had been lost due to a betrayal of the frontline defenders by high-ranking officers and foreign allies.[10][14]
Assad regime: TheSyrian Ministry of Defense stated in a statement that: "Our armed forces are engaged in fierce battles to repel and thwart the violent and successive attacks launched by terrorist organizations on the city ofHama from various axes." It concluded that: "The General Command of the Army and Armed Forces will continue to carry out its national duty in reclaiming the areas that terrorist organizations have entered.[51]Syrian Salvation Government: HTS leaderAbu Mohammad al-Julani said his forces entered Hama to "cleanse a 40-year old wound," referring to the1982 Hama massacre by forces ofHafez al-Assad's regime. The rebels vowed to advance further south toHoms and called on the city's inhabitants to rise up in "revolution against oppression and tyranny".[47]
