According to rebel officials, a major Syrian military offensive has forced them to pull out of the town of Soran, near the major city of Hama, giving the Syrian military control over the important town, and by extension the northern route to the city of Hama.
Rebels described the offensive as involving both the Syrian army and Iranian militias, and that they were backed by “hysterical bombing” from the Russian military, ultimately expelling the rebels, who had taken the town in a recent offensive.
While most of the Hama offensive towns and villages had already been recovered, or were of little value, Soran was seen as a big loss to thew Syrian military, as the route both gave rebels a chance at pushing toward Hama, and kept the military from pushing north into rebel-held Idlib.
The Free Syrian Army said that ahead of the pullout they’d fired dozens of rockets at the military airport in Hama, bragging that they’d caused several fires at the site. Materially the last rebel-held area from the Hama offensive is the town of Morek, further to the north.