The loss of Hama, less than 80 miles south of Aleppo, would be a severe blow to the government and would place the rebels near Homs, a strategic city that is a gateway to Syria's Mediterranean coast.
The surprise offensive, which erupted out of the rebel-held province of Idlib last week, has posed the most serious challenge to Bashar al-Assad's government in years.
Anas Alkharboutli, 32, who worked for the German Press Agency (DPA) and had extensively covered Syria's conflict, died of injuries sustained in the strike.
HTS, meanwhile, appealed to members of the Alawite minority in Hama, the sect to which Assad belongs, to 'detach themselves from this regime.'
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