A Syrian opposition leader said that the fall of the city of Hama, which was stormed by armed opposition factions on Thursday afternoon, was inevitable, and that what awaits the regime will be more difficult, as he put it.
In statements to Al Jazeera Net, Asaad Mustafa, the former minister in the regime’s government before he joined the revolution after its outbreak in 2011, explained that the opposition factions entered the Arbaeen neighborhood, which is the first neighborhood on the Aleppo side, and they succeeded in reaching the Hama Central Prison and released prisoners from inside it, and began the expansion. Within the city.
Mustafa, who is from the Hama countryside and assumed the position of governor in the 1980s, pointed out that the northern and eastern countryside of the governorate are now in the control of opposition factions, and control over the western countryside is being completed.
Mustafa, who assumed the position of Minister of Defense in the government Syrian opposition coalition Years ago, controlling the entire city and its countryside was inevitable and it was only a matter of time because the morale of the army personnel was collapsed and they were suffering from a severe shortage in numbers.
He stated that what remains now is to complete the incursion into the city and secure it, in addition to controlling the entire western countryside and heading south.
Next stop
Mustafa pointed out that after controlling Hama completely in the coming hours, Homs will be the next stop, and on the road to it from Hama there are some cities and towns in the northern Homs countryside, such as Rastan and Talbiseh, which will fall quickly, especially since the demonstrations there against the regime and the blocking of roads by the people have been going on for some time. , waiting for the opportunity to get out of his control.
Mustafa said that controlling Homs (the center of the country) will be a decisive stop in the conflict with the regime, because it is the northern gateway to the capital, Damascus. He pointed out that the governorate has great strategic importance as it is located on the international highway that connects the Sahel region to Damascus.
The opposition leader expected that the Syrian coastal region – which includes an incubator for the regime – would witness movements against it soon, especially after the defeats it suffered, noting that the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime is closer than ever before, especially since it is suffering and its allies are in a miserable situation, as he put it.
The Syrian opposition continues its sudden and unprecedented attack in the northwest of the country, where within a week it achieved major progress that gained it most of the city of Aleppo, the country’s second largest city and its economic capital, and completed control over the neighboring Idlib governorate. It also penetrated into Hama and took control of important areas and cities in its vicinity before… To penetrate the city.
Last week, the armed opposition announced the start of what it called a “battle.” Deter aggression“, said Hassan Abdel Ghani, spokesman for Al-Fath Al-Mubin Operations Room -which includes Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham The National Liberation Front and other factions – the aim of the operation is to direct a “pre-emptive strike” against the Syrian army crowds threatening opposition-controlled positions.
Factions affiliated with the “Syrian National Army” also launched another battle under the name “Dawn of Freedom” in the northern countryside of Aleppo Governorate, during which they were able to control several cities, towns and military airports.