Syrian activists say airstrikes in Hama province kill 25 people

Reporting from BEIRUT —  Warplanes believed to be from the Syrian government carried out several airstrikes in Hama province on Thursday, killing at least 25 people, amid a lightning advance by insurgents on government-controlled areas of the central province.

The rebel offensive is led by the ultraconservative Islamic group Jund al Aqsa and several factions from the western-backed Free Syrian Army. In the last three days, the insurgents have pushed their way from northern Hama, where they are usually based, south toward government-held areas.

Local activist Ahmed Ahmed said the rebels were only five miles from the provincial capital, Hama. The insurgents have taken over a government military base and are in control of several towns along the highway linking it to the capital, Damascus, following a “surprising” government retreat, he said.

The advances in Hama are significant because if rebels control the city and the highway, they can sever government supply lines and deprive President Bashar Assad of a traditional stronghold. Clashes are now concentrated around a hill outside the provincial capital, Ahmed said.

Ahmed, who is currently in Turkey, said government forces in Hama province may have been weakened because many troops were transferred to Aleppo city, where they are bogged down in fighting with advancing rebels.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the insurgents’ advance and said a series of airstrikes since early Thursday had killed at least 25 civilians, including six children, in northern Hama province.

The Hama-based Syrian Press Center, an activist group operated by Ahmed, said at least 10 people were killed when warplanes struck a crowd of people displaced from Suran, a town north of Hama city that was seized by opposition fighters. Another 15 people were killed further to the west, the center said.

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, says warplanes killed 10 “terrorists” in northern Hama.