Syrian forces battling insurgents north of Hama

Beirut: Syria said Wednesday its counteroffensive has pushed back insurgents attempting to advance to the strategic central city of Hama, while the insurgency says it captured more Syrian troops and Iran-backed militants in fierce battles.

The latest flareup in Syria’s long civil war comes after forces opposed to Syrian President Bashar Assad over the past days captured

large parts of the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s largest, as well as towns and villages in southern parts of the northwestern

Idlib province.

The offensive is being led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadi group, as well as an umbrella group of

Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. For years, both have entrenched themselves in northwest Idlib province and parts of northern Aleppo, as the battered country reeled from years of political and military stalemates.

The war between Assad and his foreign backers and the array of armed opposition forces seeking his overthrow has killed an estimated half-million people over the past 13 years.