OPPOSITION FORCES TO DAMASCUS OCCUPY HAMA IN NEW OFFENSIVE

Despite the support that Syrian President Bashir Al Assad receives from Russia, the opposition forces to Damascus have occupied the city of Hama, in the center of the country, this Thursday, after taking control of Aleppo, Syria's second largest city. It is a hard setback for Damascus

It was thought that the Syrian army, supported by Russian combat aircraft, would dismantle the rebel offensive, but the opposite has happened. The opposition forces claim to have captured hundreds of Syrian army soldiers, without conclusive evidence. The opposition is part of the group called "Hayat Tahrir Al Sham" (HTS) which in the past was a branch of Al Qaeda.

The leader of HTS is Abu Mohamed Al-Juliani, but it is not known whether he is still alive, as Damascus claims he died in one of the attacks by the Russian air force, which supports the Al-Assad regime.

The objective of HTS and other less important rebel forces is to form a coalition and achieve the conversion of Syria into an Islamic republic. An overly ambitious objective given the presence of Russian forces in a naval base and in another air base, although it must be remembered that the Russians suffered a total defeat when they occupied Afghanistan.

While Al-Juliani was affiliated with Al Qaeda, he behaved like a faithful member of the terrorist group and even appealed to the formation of new followers of the movement that had as its maximum leader the deceased Osama Bin Laden.

The biggest problem that the rebel forces have is finding a common government program, although they all agree on the Islamic character of the future republic if they manage to take power in Damascus. It should be noted that HTS includes not only Syrians, but also Saudis and Iraqis, but this information is subject to debate.

(picture: Leader of HTS)