Violent clashes results of a new advancement of the regime forces and their control over a new village in the eastern countryside of Hama

Hama province – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights:: Several reliable sources asserted to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that the motorcycle that exploded near a mosque in the town of Qal’et al-Madeyq near the administrative border of the countryside of Hama with Idlib province, aimed at assassinating a leader in Jaysh al-Nasr, where the residents monitored the motorcycle parking near his car which was damaged, while areas in al-Sayad village in the northern countryside of Hama were shelled by the regime forces, and there was no information about casualties.

In a related context, the violent clashes are still ongoing between the regime forces and their allied militiamen of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities against ISIS in areas in the northeastern countryside of Salmiyah in the eastern countryside of Hama, and the SOHR learned that the regime forces managed to advance and control the village of Salba, after they had controlled day before yesterday the villages of Jana al-Alabawi in the district of Aqirbat, in the northeastern countryside of Salmiyah city, days after they controlled the northern and southern villages of Dakila and Om Haratin and other hills in the area, and the violent clashes are accompanied  by an exchange of targeting, amid heavy shelling by the regime forces on the organization held areas and the clash areas, and shelling by warplanes on areas in Aqirabat district and there is confirmed information about human losses in the ranks of both parties.

The SOHR published yesterday that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that 7 citizens at least, including 4 members of one family, including a man and his wife, were killed and about 24 others were injured with varying degrees of severity, as a result of dozens of raids carried out by warplanes on areas controlled by ISIS in the eastern countryside of Salamiyah city in the eastern countryside of Hama, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that the casualties were killed by targeting by these warplanes to Abul Fashafish village, where the number of casualties may increase because of the presence of injuries in serious cases, as Hama countryside has witnessed for the past 24 hours intensive raids in villages within the besieged circle which includes the eastern countryside of Hama with the part which is connected with it of the eastern countryside of Homs, thus, the number of casualties who were killed by the intensive bombing during the past 72 hours, on the villages which are controlled by the organization in the eastern countryside of Hama and which there are about 5 thousand citizens are still besieged in a circle surrounded by regime forces and gunmen loyal to them, has increased to 32people at least including 6 children and 6 citizen women, these raids also resulted in the injury of about 75 citizens with varying degrees of severity, which makes the number of casualties be likely to increase, amid great lack of the medical ability to rescue serious cases or badly injured.

Such an escalated targeting of infrastructures and heavy shelling on and destruction of villages in the eastern countryside of Hama by the Russian and the regime’s warplanes along with its forces coincided with deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the area. About 5 thousand civilians are still trapped in this besieged area, namely the villages of the eastern countryside of Hama and the area linked to it in the eastern countryside of Homs. Tragically, they are experiencing a significant shortage of food and medicine and lack of hospitals, medical care and specialized doctors for the critical conditions. Local sources called upon International Organizations, through the SOHR, to put pressure on all actors to secure a safe passage for thousands of civilians – children, men, elderly, and women – to areas beyond the control of ISIS. Local sources confirmed to the SOHR that hundreds of families were transferred to areas near Ithriyah-Salamiyah road in order to move them to areas under the control of the factions and Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham. Contact was lost with tens of civilians while fleeing ISIS-controlled areas in the eastern countryside of Hama.