By Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Timour Azhari
AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) -Syrian rebels captured the city of Hama on Thursday, a major victory in a week-old lightning advance across northern Syria and a devastating new blow to President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies.
After years locked behind frozen frontlines, the rebels have burst forth to mount the swiftest battlefield advance by either side since a rebellion against Assad descended into civil war 13 years ago. The capture of Hama gives them control of a strategic central city they never managed to seize before.
The Syrian army said it was redeploying outside the city "to preserve civilian lives and prevent urban combat" after what it called intense clashes.
Rebels were seen on television parading through Hama into the evening to the sound of celebratory gunfire. Other footage showed detainees pouring out of the city prison after rebels freed them.
The insurgents said they were ready to march on south towards Homs, a crossroads city that links the capital Damascus to the north and to the coast. "Your time has come," said a rebel operations room in an online post, calling on Homs residents to rise up in revolution.
Al Jazeera television broadcast images of rebels inside Hama, some of them greeting civilians near a roundabout while others drove in military vehicles and on mopeds.
The rebels took the main northern city of Aleppo last week and have since pushed south from their enclave in northwest Syria. Fighting has raged around villages outside Hama for two days but once rebels entered the city the battle ended in hours.
The collapse of Syrian government control in the north has sharply illustrated a shift in the balance of power since Lebanon's Hezbollah group, a lynchpin of Assad's battlefield force, suffered catastrophic losses in its war with Israel.
Assad relied heavily on Russian and Iranian backing during the most intense years of the conflict, helping him to claw back most territory and Syria's biggest cities before front lines froze in 2020.
But Russia has been focused on the war in Ukraine since 2022, and many in the top leadership of Hezbollah, the most powerful Iran-aligned force, were killed by Israel over the past two months. The group's new leader, Naim Qassem, pledged to stand by Syria in a television statement.
PIVOTAL CITY
The main insurgent commander, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, declared full rebel control over Hama on Thursday and issued a video statement warning against any involvement by another Iran-aligned force - Iraq's Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitary coalition.
Some Iraqi fighters entered Syria early this week to support Assad, Iraqi and Syrian sources said. The Hashd al-Shaabi has mobilised along the border with Syria, saying this was purely preventative in case of spillover into Iraq.
"We urge him (Iraq's prime minister) again to keep Iraq away from entering into the flames of a new war tied to what is happening in Syria," Golani said.
Hama lies more than a third of the way from Aleppo to Damascus and its capture will hinder any quick attempt by Assad and his allies to launch a counteroffensive against rebel gains of the past week.
A rebel advance on Homs, 40 km (24 miles) south of Hama, could meanwhile cut Damascus off from the coastal region, a stronghold of Assad's Alawite sect and where his Russian allies have a naval base and airbase.
"Assad now cannot afford to lose anything else. The big battle is the one coming against Homs. If Homs falls, we are talking of a potential change of regime," said Jihad Yazigi, editor of the Syria Report newsletter.
Hama is also critical to control of two major towns with big minority communities. Muhrada, home to many Christians, still held out against rebels on Thursday. Salamiya, where there are many Ismaili Muslims, accepted rebel control, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said.
Although rebels had not previously taken control of Hama, it was historically a centre of opposition to the Assad dynasty. In 1982 Muslim Brotherhood activists rose up in revolt against Assad's father there and the military launched a devastating three-week counter-assault that killed more than 10,000 people.
Golani referred to that bloody episode in his statement: "The revolutionaries have begun entering the city of Hama to cleanse that wound that has persisted in Syria for 40 years."
However, he added that rebels taking Hama would not exact revenge for the events of 1982.
ADVANCE
The most powerful rebel faction is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al Qaeda affiliate in Syria that is still listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and the West. Golani, its leader, has vowed to protect Syria's religious minorities and has urged them to abandon Assad, but many remain fearful of the insurgents.
In public remarks clearly intended to soften his image and reassure foreign countries, Golani has also emphasised his split years ago with Al Qaeda and Islamic State, and said he has always opposed attacks outside Syria.
HTS and the other rebel groups are trying to consolidate their rule in Aleppo, bringing it under the administration of the so-called Salvation Government they established in their northwestern enclave.
Aleppo residents have said there are shortages of bread and fuel, and that phone services have been cut. The U.N. food agency said the latest bout of fighting had displaced 280,000 people.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday there was an urgent need for immediate humanitarian access to all civilians in need in Syria and a return to a U.N.-facilitated political process to end the bloodshed.
Turkey disavows HTS but has long been the biggest external backer of other rebel factions that fight alongside it, and the Turkish government's position will be critical to the future of any enlarged insurgent region in Syria.
The Turkish government has denied having any role in the rebels' sudden sweep into Aleppo last week. Any sustained rebel gains in northern Syria could allow for the return of many Syrian refugees now living in Turkey, a major goal for Ankara.