Syrian government regains control of Hamamiyat village amid intense bombardment
Idlib – North-Press Agency
The Syrian government forces made an advancement in the northern countryside of Hama after successive attacks supported by a heavy bombardment, while the shelling on the surrounding area was renewed today’s morning.
Field media sources confirmed that the Syrian government forces were able to regain the control of Hamamiyat area following the withdrawal of the armed opposition groups from the area as a result of more than 300 airstrikes by the Russian and Syrian fighter jets and hundreds of artillery and missile shells.
While the Syrian Air Force targeted the outskirts of the city of Maarat al-Numaan in the southern countryside of Idlib in the morning. Also, the government forces helicopters and the Russian Air Force targeted areas in the town of Kafr Zita in northern Hama earlier last night.
Furthermore, the Syrian government forces targeted this morning with more than 40 rockets the areas of Khan Shaykhun, southern Idlib. While 6 members of the Syrian government forces were injured due to opposition groups shelling which targeted the government forces-held town of Karnaz.
Coinciding with the ongoing fierce fighting in northern Hama, explosions were heard in the past few hours, as sources indicated it was attempted attack by drones deployed on the positions of Russian and Syrian forces in Latakia countryside.
On the other hand, local people of Hama fear a further escalation by the Russian and Syrian government forces, in response to the attacks which were launched by the armed groups in the last 24 hours in the countryside of Hama, as the Syrian and Russian fighter jets are still soaring over the de-escalation zones.
Earlier on Thursday, a meeting was held in Ankara between Alexander Lavrentiev, the Russian president’s special envoy to Syria and his accompanying delegation with the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Verchinen, where they met with the spokesman of the Turkish Presidency, Ibrahim Kalin, and the two deputies of Defense and Foreign Ministers.
During the meeting, the two sides discussed the situation in Idlib and its surroundings and within the Syrian territory in light of what the Turkish Foreign Ministry described as “Escalation of the terrorist threat there and the need to ensure the protection of civilians as well as the Russian and Turkish troops”.
The meeting also dealt with the political settlement of the Syrian crisis and the completion of the process of forming the Constitutional Committee to be deployed and the preparations for a new international meeting “within the formula of Astana” regarding Syria, early next August, in the Kazakh capital city of Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana).