Insurgents advance towards Syrian city of Homs after capturing Hama

Islamist insurgents said Friday they were continuing to advance toward the city of Homs in central Syria after taking Hama yesterday, in a new advance of their offensive toward the strategic city controlled by the Syrian government of President Bashar al Assad.

“Our forces continue to advance towards the city of Homs with a firm step, thank God, after the arrival of convoys carrying hundreds of displaced people from Homs to deter Al Assad's aggression against their city,” reported briefly the Military Operations Command of the insurgent coalition led by the Levant Liberation Organization group, which split from what was the Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda.

Islamist insurgents announced Thursday that they have "completely" captured the city of Hama, just hours after they entered the country's fourth-largest city.

Yesterday, Syrian Defense Minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas said that the capture of Hama is “a temporary tactical measure” and called for patience and trust from the Syrian people.

If the insurgents reach and control Homs, which is located on the M5 highway - the country's backbone, connecting Syria from south to north - they would further isolate Damascus and prevent it from connecting by land to the coastal province of Tartus, a stronghold of the Al Assad family.

The loss of Hama marks the second provincial capital to fall into the hands of the Turkish-backed insurgents in just over a week of offensive, after they took control of the city of Aleppo, Syria's second largest, last Friday. EFE