BEIRUT, December 5. /TASS/. Armed terrorist groups have penetrated several neighborhoods in the city of Hama despite heavy losses, the Syrian army’s military command reported on Thursday.
"Over the past few hours, militants have been able to penetrate several districts of the city despite heavy losses amid intensified clashes between our soldiers and terrorist groups and a growing number of fallen servicemen in the ranks of our forces," the Syrian military command said in a statement.
The Syrian army also announced that the government forces holding Hama "were redeployed outside the city’s limits."
"In order to preserve the lives of Hama civilians and keep them safe from street battles, the military units stationed there have been relocated outside the city’s limits," the military command added.
The Syrian army has said that "it will continue performing its national duty of restoring control of the territories infiltrated by terrorist groups."
Fierce battles between the Syrian army and militants have been going on in the Hama province since December 4. Earlier reports said that Syrian government forces had managed to push militants 20 km away from neighborhoods in the city of Hama and take control of its outskirts. As the Al Ekhbariya TV Channel reported, a large reinforcement had arrived for the Syrian army near the settlement of Al Sa’an.
On November 27, the Jabhat al-Nusra extremist group (outlawed in Russia) and its allied groups launched a major attack on Aleppo and other settlements in northern Syria. Syria’s military command later announced that the Syrian army had had to retreat from Aleppo to regroup forces and prepare for a counterattack.