Syria: Insurgents at the gates of Hama, population one million

Syrian insurgents captured four new towns on December 3rd and are now at the gates of the key city of Hama, while the government retook lost ground in other areas, according to the AP and TheNewArab.
The insurgents, led by Al-Qaeida breakaway Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), are now 10 kilometres away from Hama, Syria’s fourth largest city, with a population of nearly a million.
The advance is the latest in a lightning offensive against the Assad regime which started only last week, following the ceasefire in between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon.
AP and TheNewArab