Syrian government forces and rebels battle outside city of Hama

A government counter-attack reportedly pushed back the rebels after they reached Hama's outskirts.

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A monitoring group said on Tuesday evening that the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its allies were “at the gates of Hama”, but on Wednesday it said the military had retaken several villages in a counter-attack backed by intense air strikes.

Syrian state media also said troops had pushed back the rebels north of the city, but the rebels denied losing any ground there.

Hama is 110km (70 miles) south of Aleppo, which the rebels captured last week after launching a surprise offensive from their stronghold in the north-west.

The state-run Sana news agency and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, both reported intense fighting on Wednesday morning around Jabal Zain al-Abadin, a hill about 5km (3 miles) north-east of Hama.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czeng98w7r5o

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