Syria's Islamist Insurgents Take Control of Hama Military Base With All of Its Planes And Missiles

Syrian opposition fighters have captured the central city of Hama, Syria’s fourth largest, after the army said it withdrew to avoid fighting inside the city and spare the lives of civilians.

Military planes, helicopters and missiles were left in the base as the Syrian army redeployed outside the city.

Ahmad Al-Ahmad, an opposition fighter said standing next to a military jet “this plane is for Bashar, the criminal, who was bombing civilians."

Outside Hama Governorate building, fighters on Friday were shooting in the air in celebration.

Syrian insurgents swept into the city on Thursday, days after insurgents captured much of Aleppo, the country’s largest city.

The stunning weeklong offensive appeared likely to continue, with insurgents setting their sights on Homs, the country’s third-largest city.

Homs, which is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Hama, is the gate to the capital, Damascus, Assad’s seat of power and the coastal region that is a base of support for him.

The offensive is being led by the jihadi group HTS and an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army.

Their sudden capture of Aleppo, an ancient business hub in the north, reignited the Syrian civil war that had been largely a stalemate for the past few years.

Hama is one of the few cities that has remained mostly under government control in the conflict, which broke out in March 2011 following a popular uprising.