Reinforcements bolster Syrian troops battling rebels

Intense air strikes and the arrival of pro-government reinforcements have driven Syrian rebels back from the edge of Hama, a major city whose fall would pile pressure on President Bashar al-Assad, both sides say.

Rebels have staged their biggest advance in years over the past week, seizing Aleppo - Syria's largest city before the war - and much of the surrounding countryside.

By Tuesday they had all but reached the Hama outskirts a third of the way between Aleppo and Damascus.

United Nations Syria envoy Geir Pedersen warned the Security Council on Tuesday that the situation was "extremely fluid and dangerous," adding that Syria faced danger of "further division, deterioration, and destruction".

Any prolonged return of fighting in Syria risks further destabilising a region roiled by conflicts in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

Syria's civil war killed hundreds of thousands of people, sent many millions fleeing across borders and drew in regional and global powers since 2011, before frontlines were largely frozen years ago with Assad in control of most territory and all major cities.

State media and the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said there had been intense fighting over Jabal Zain al-Abidin, a hill 5km northeast of Hama and overlooking a major road into the city.

Abu al-Qaqaa, a rebel commander in the area, said: "We were forced to retreat under heavy enemy bombardment by air."

Another rebel source cited the failure to capture Jabal Zain al-Abidin as a setback in the insurgent advance on Hama.

Iran-backed militia helped reinforce the government's frontlines at Hama, where army units had regrouped after losing Aleppo, rebel and army sources said.

Syrian state media reported reinforcements arriving on Tuesday.

The rapid rebel advances have concerned Assad's allies, with Iran saying on Tuesday it would consider sending forces if asked and Russia saying it would strongly support efforts to "counter terrorist groups and restore constitutional order".

Iran-backed Iraqi fighters this week moved into Syria in support of Assad, whose government has started a new conscription push with checkpoints in Damascus and eastern Deir al-Zor signing up young men to join the army, residents said.

Russian and government bombardment of the rebel enclave in the northwest has intensified over recent days, with air strikes targeting residential areas and medical centres in Aleppo and Idlib, residents and rescue workers have said.

Russia and Iran, allies of the Assad dynasty for decades, were vital in helping Syrian forces claw back most of the country from 2015-20 after losing swathes of territory to rebels in the war's early years.

However, Russia has been focused on the war in Ukraine while Iran has been tied up by the conflict in Lebanon where Israel has inflicted heavy losses on its main regional ally Hezbollah, wiping out most of its leadership in the last two months.

Syria remains important to both its allies.

Assad represents an important link in the network of Shi'ite groups Iran backs across the region.

Russia operates a Mediterranean naval port at Tartous and has an air base at Hmeimim near Latakia.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blamed unidentified foreign powers for the rebels' sudden advance.

"They would not have dared to commit such an audacious act without the instigation and comprehensive support of external forces," she said, alleging that rebels had also received drones and training from Ukraine.

On Sunday, the English-language news website Kyiv Post reported that Ukrainian military intelligence had been involved in training Islamist rebels in Syria.

The strongest rebel faction in northwest Syria is jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which fights alongside several other more mainstream groups that are backed by Turkey.

Turkey also supports the Syrian National Army, a separate rebel grouping that holds a strip of territory along the border.

It wants to keep Kurdish groups in Syria away from the frontier and to create a haven for Syrian refugees now living in Turkey.

with DPA