2024 Hama offensive

The 2024 Hama offensive was a military operation launched by forces of the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) and Turkish-backed rebel groups of the Syrian Interim Government (SIG) during the 2024 Syrian opposition offensive, a phase of the Syrian civil war. The operation, which was launched by the Military Operations Command, took place in the Hama Governorate.

On 5 December 2024, opposition forces captured Hama.

On 27 November 2024, Syrian opposition groups led by Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched an offensive on pro-government forces in northwestern Syria. This marked the first major offensive by any faction in the conflict since the March 2020 Idlib ceasefire. The operation resulted in the rapid capture of dozens of villages by opposition forces and a significant weakening of pro-government defenses. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, this caused some population displacement towards various Syrian cities, including Hama.

Hama city is a strategic city which had supply lines to loyalist coastal strongholds and is close to areas inhabited by Alawites who had largely backed the Assad government in the past. Furthermore, the city acts as junction connecting all four main areas of Syria: North, south, east and west. It links vital supply and transit lines between Damascus and Aleppo.

On 30 November 2024, rebels took control of several towns, including Taybat al-Imam, Kafr Zita, Latamneh, and Morek.

My commanding officer told me to start shooting. He said if you don’t start shooting the enemy, you will be considered a traitor and punished. We kept being told: 'Don't retreat, backup is on the way,' but everyone knew that was a lie. There was no backup.

Consequently, rebel forces approached the outskirts of Hama and started closing in on the city. Meanwhile, pro-government forces began withdrawing from both the city of Hama and its airbase. An unverified photo started circulating around on early 1 December, showing rebel forces entering the Al-Arba'een neighbourhood in Hama city.^{[unreliable source?]} Al Jazeera English also reported that rebel forces had entered Hama.

Following the rebel advances, the Syrian government sent reinforcements to stop the advancing rebel forces, along with special forces affiliated with Maj. Gen. Suhayl al-Hasan to strategic locations, including Jabal Zayn al-Abidin, Taybat al-Imam, Qamhana, and Khitab. The Chief of the General Staff of the Army and Syrian Arab Armed Forces, Lt. Gen Abdul Karim Mahmoud Ibrahim, arrived in Hama to oversee the military operations in northern Syria on 1 December 2024. According to Syrian Resistance leader Mihrac Ural, the chief of staff tried to encourage a firm resistance at Hama, and several local pro-government commanders pledged to stand and fight.