Syrian rebels captured Hama on Thursday, marking the second major city to fall during their week-long surprise offensive against the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad.
The insurgents entered the provincial capital after capturing Aleppo on Saturday, forcing government military personnel to retreat further south as their advance pressed on.
The opposition fighters, led by the former Al Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, are likely to continue toward Homs, situated 25 miles south of their current location. Occupying the city would give them control over three of Syria's four most populous municipalities and position them 100 miles north of the nation’s capital.
In response to the incursion, Syria’s foreign minister, Bassam al-Sabbagh, traveled to Baghdad for an urgent meeting on Friday with his counterparts from Iraq and the Islamic Republic. Both countries are long-standing allies of the Ba'athist regime in Damascus and have indicated they might involve their armed forces in the conflict.
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