Syrian insurgents capture central city of Hama in severe setback to the Syrian president

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00After capturing Syria's second city Aleppo on Sunday, on Thursday morning insurgent forces

00:07entered the city of Hama, having encircled it from three different locations.

00:12The rebels hastened to announce on telegram their first war booty, the city's central

00:17prison where they freed hundreds of detainees.

00:21These pictures, filmed by France 24, show the rebels on the outskirts of Hama on Wednesday.

00:26The bodies of soldiers from Bashar al-Assad's army litter the streets, while the rebels

00:31celebrate taking their tanks and equipment.

00:34The insurgency has been led by the Islamist group HTS, as well as an umbrella group of

00:39Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army.

00:44Their leader, Abiy Mohammed al-Jilani, a former al-Qaeda member, has urged a conquest with

00:50no revolt and warned Iraq's paramilitary coalition, which has mobilised along the border, not

00:56to intervene.

00:57The revolutionaries began entering Hama to sanitise up the wound that has been left in

01:02Syria for 40 years.

01:03I ask God Almighty that it be a conquest in which there is no revolt.

01:08The United Nations says the flare-up in fighting has displaced more than 115,000 people.

01:14According to Moscow, Russia and Iran, as supporters of Assad's regime, and Turkey, which supports

01:21the rebels, are in close contact to stabilise the situation.

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