The Syrian Ministry of Defense announced a series of coordinated artillery, missile, and aerial strikes, backed by Russian air support, targeting militant vehicles and gatherings in the northern and southern countrysides of Hama. The ministry confirmed that the strikes resulted in dozens of casualties among the militants.

Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Syria reported that the Syrian army targeted a militant convoy late last night in an area between Hama and Homs, from the direction of Hama. The army also repositioned its forces in the Rabi’a and Masyaf regions, located in northern Hama’s farthest reaches.

Our correspondent further noted that intense clashes are ongoing between the Syrian army, stationed at Mount Zain al-Abidin, and militants in the western countryside of Hama. This has been accompanied by a large-scale displacement of civilians from Hama’s countryside toward Latakia, Tartus, and the western part of Homs, where local areas are struggling to accommodate the influx of displaced people.

In the Homs countryside, militants from Talbiseh, Rastan, and al-Dar al-Kabira initiated offensives within their towns as armed groups arrived from Hama. According to our correspondent, there are no Syrian army positions in these areas, which saw agreements in the past, based on which the militants remained there

In Latakia, the Syrian army successfully repelled an assault by militants affiliated with the Turkistan, Uzbek, and Tajik groups. Our correspondent confirmed that the army thwarted a militant offensive on Mount Turkmen in the Latakia countryside.

In a related context, a media source with close ties to the armed groups in Syria has confirmed that the primary objective of their military operation is to seize control of the city of Qalamoun, located in the northern countryside of Damascus. The operation aims to sever any connection between Damascus and Hezbollah and to prevent the transfer of weapons from Syria to the resistance forces.

Terrorists hold displaced Syrians hostage in al-Safirah, Aleppo

A local source from the towns of Nubl and al-Zahraa, located in northwest Aleppo in Syria, has confirmed that armed groups coerced residents into giving interviews to Arab and Syrian 'opposition" media outlets, claiming that the militants treated them well—an assertion that starkly contradicts the reality on the ground.

The source explained that the armed groups pressured residents to speak about the kindness and humanity of the militants. "What they asked us to say does not reflect the truth," the source emphasized. "We witnessed our own relatives die from hunger, thirst, and the cold."

The source further revealed that militants entered homes, looted them in front of the residents, and subjected them to humiliating insults and verbal abuse.

In a separate report, a source from Aleppo confirmed that militants often entered homes under the pretext of searching for alleged "shabbiha" (militia members), only to proceed with theft and looting, doing so with complete impunity.

The residents of Nubbul and al-Zahraa, located in northwest Aleppo in Syria, have been complaining of hunger and shortages in medicine for days after armed terrorist groups held the communities hostage in  Aleppo's southwestern city of al-Safirah. 

Reportedly, around 2,000 residents crossed a 60-kilometer distance from Nubl and al-Zahraa to reach al-Safirah as part of a longer journey to reach Damascus, Homs, and other safe areas. 

The siege was imposed while civilians were fleeing their cities in northwestern Aleppo toward safer areas in other provinces after the terrorists seized control of Aleppo. 

Video footage of children eating grass and fodder from the ground in al-Safirah due to the lack of food was circulated on social media, while more showed dozens of civilians sitting on the floor of a stone building without blankets, amid the cries of children and weeping of women, with no access to the basic necessities for survival, such as water, food, electricity, and medicine.

In the video, one of the civilians appealed to international organizations and humanitarian associations to provide assistance to trapped civilians.

After the terrorists took control of al-Safirah and the road from Aleppo leading to other provinces, they rounded up the civilians and forcibly transported them to an unknown location. More than 2,000 civilians are trapped, facing the threat of dying from hunger and thirst or getting killed by armed groups, unless they are swiftly evacuated by UN and humanitarian organizations.

It is worth noting that telecommunication systems have been out of service in Aleppo and its countryside ever since the terrorist groups destroyed telecom towers in Syria.