Syrian forces in badly damaged village near Hama

Описание: (10 May 2019) Syrian rebel groups were fighting back, waging a counteroffensive Friday to try to retake territory lost to government forces this week in their stronghold in the country's northwest, state media, activists and fighters said.
Video shot on Thursday by a cameraman embedded with Syrian government forces showed buildings damaged by the fighting in the villages recently taken by the army.
Syria state al-Ikhbariya TV said troops foiled insurgent attacks on Friday on Kfar Nabudah village, taken three days earlier as government forces pushed into the southern edge of the rebel enclave.
But the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the insurgents, led by al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, advanced into the village, sparking intense clashes and a wave of government airstrikes.
A spokesman for the rebel umbrella group National Front for Liberation, Naji al-Mustafa, said after the government attacks opposition fighters coordinated to launch a new attack on Friday on Kfar Nabudah to recapture it.
Kfar Nabudah was considered the first line of defense for the rebel stronghold.
Its capture on Wednesday enabled government troops to advance to the east, regaining control of Qalaat Madiq town.
The latest wave of fighting began on April 30.
It's the most serious challenge to a cease-fire brokered by Russia and Turkey last September and has set off a wave of displacement inside the rebel stronghold, home to 3 million people.
The rebel stronghold is situated in the northwestern corner of Syria, spanning most of Idlib province and the northern part of Hama.
UN officials estimate that over 150,000 people have been displaced recently within the enclave.

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