Syrian opposition factions announced capturing the key city of Hama on Thursday, bringing the insurgents a major victory after a lightning advance across northern Syria and dealing a new blow to President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies.
The Syrian army said it was redeploying outside the city "to preserve civilians lives and prevent urban combat" after what it called intense clashes.
Opposition factions said they were preparing to keep marching south towards Homs, Syria's great crossroads city that links the capital Damascus to the north and coast.
"Your time has come," said an opposition operations room in an online post, calling on city residents to rise up in revolution.
Al Jazeera television broadcast what it said were images of opposition militants inside Hama, some of them greeting civilians near a roundabout while others drove in military vehicles and on mopeds.
The opposition took the main northern city of Aleppo last week and have since pushed south from their enclave in northwest Syria. Fighting has raged around villages outside Hama for two days.
The fall of Hama, which was in government hands throughout the civil war triggered by a 2011 rebellion against Assad, will send shockwaves through Damascus and fears of a continued rebel march south.
Assad relied heavily on Russian and Iranian backing throughout the most intense years of the conflict, helping him to claw back most territory and the biggest cities before front lines froze in 2020.
The opposition insurgents have been battling to try to enter Hama since Tuesday and there was heavy fighting overnight with the Syrian army and allied Iran-backed militia groups supported by a Russian bombardment, both sides said.
Hama is also critical to the control of two major towns with big minority religious communities, Muhrada which is home to many Christians and Salamiya where there are many Ismaili Muslims.
The most powerful opposition faction is the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the former al Qaeda affiliate in Syria. Its leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has pledged to protect Syria's religious minorities but many remain fearful of the insurgents.
On Wednesday Golani visited Aleppo's historic citadel, a symbolic moment for the opposition who were driven out of the city in 2016 after months of siege and intense fighting, their biggest defeat of the war. Aleppo was Syria's biggest city before the war.
HTS and the other groups are trying to consolidate their rule in Aleppo, bringing it under the administration of the so-called Salvation Government they established in their northwestern enclave.
Aleppo residents have said there are shortages of bread and fuel, and that telecoms services have also been cut.
