(6 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hama, Syria – 06 December 2024
1. Wide of the water wheels of Hama
2. Rebels standing on water wheel
3. Armed rebels in town square
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Name not given, Syrian opposition fighter:
“After 13 years of being away from Hama, today on December 6, 2024 we are in Hama. This is Al-Assi square. In 2011, we went out saying ‘A curse on your soul Hafez (Assad)’ and now in 2024 we say ‘A curse on your soul Hafez (Assad)’. We will continue until victory.”
5. Syrian opposition fighters
6. Hama sign
7. Various of damaged Syrian army armoured personnel carrier
8. Bodies of Syrian army soldiers covered with blankets
9. Various of Hama governorate building
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Umm Abdo, resident:
“Curse his soul and the souls of those who gave birth to him. He (Hafez Assad) killed my husband in 1982, I had 8 children. He killed him nine days (after the birth of her last son) he killed my husband. He was bleeding and we could not take him to the hospital. May God take revenge on him, it is the greatest joy”
11. Opposition fighters on armoured personnel carrier
12. Fighter holding the Syrian opposition flag
STORYLINE:
Syrian opposition fighters were seen celebrating on Friday at the iconic water wheel site in Hama, a day after they captured Syria’s central city in another major blow to President Bashar Assad.
Fighters were seen posing for pictures with their weapons and celebrating their victory on the Orontes River.
One fighter, who did not give his name, celebrated returning to the city 13 years after leaving it.
He added that at the early stage of the Syrian revolution they went out on the streets cursing Hafez Assad, the former president and father of the current President Bashar Assad, and today they are doing the same.
Syrian insurgents swept into the city on Thursday, days after insurgents captured much of Aleppo, the country’s largest city.
The stunning weeklong offensive appeared likely to continue, with insurgents setting their sights on Homs, the country’s third-largest city.
Homs, which is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Hama, is the gate to the capital, Damascus, Assad’s seat of power and the coastal region that is a base of support for him.
Umm Abdo, a woman who lost her husband in 1982 to an attack by the Syrian Army, said it was the "greatest joy" to see the military defeated in Hama.
The offensive is being led by the jihadi group HTS and an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army.
Their sudden capture of Aleppo, an ancient business hub in the north, reignited the Syrian civil war that had been largely a stalemate for the past few years.
Hama is one of the few cities that has remained mostly under government control in the conflict, which broke out in March 2011 following a popular uprising.
AP Video by Omar Albam
===========================================================
Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: info@aparchive.com.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/e2c82656c4884c83a792236f21c7148d
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in December 11, 2024, 3:04 pm.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
