HTS has its roots in the Syrian branch of the terrorist group al-Qaeda. Control of Hama is considered strategically significant because the city connects Aleppo with the capital Damascus.

Hama is strategic because of its location between Syria's second city Aleppo -- which rebels took on December 1 -- and Damascus, President Bashar al-Assad's power base. The city, with a population ...

Syrian opposition forces have entered the strategic central city of Hama. The Syrian army, loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, said it had redeployed outside the city, which lies on the main ...

Islamist rebels took the Syrian city of Hama Thursday from the forces of the secularist President Bashar al-Assad. Fighting between the rebels and Assad’s Syrian Arab Army had been occurring on ...

The image is particularly symbolic: A statue of former President Hafez al-Assad, the father of Syria's current ruler Bashar, was toppled in Hama after Islamist-led rebels overran the country's ...

Syrian rebels advanced toward Hama on December 1 as regime forces ... Rebel forces captured the towns of Kafr Zita, Murek and al-Lataminah in the governorate, SOHR said. Regime forces ...

most significantly Syria's second city Aleppo, from President Bashar al-Assad's grasp. The rebels "have surrounded Hama city from three sides, and are now present at a distance of three to four ...

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels battled government forces and allied militia on Wednesday in villages north and east of Hama, a major city whose capture would pile pressure on President Bashar al ...