On July 7, a public committee representing the civilians in the northern and northeastern Hama countryside released an official statement, in which it stressed its rejection for Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) plans to launch a military operation against the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) from there.
The committee also warned HTS that more than 200,000 civilians, who are currently living in northern Hama, will face catastrophic consequences if the attack is launched.
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A day earlier, HTS declared the northern Hama countryside a “military zone” and called on the civilians there to evacuate the area immediately. Furthermore, the radical group revealed its plans to launch an attack from there on the SAA in order to support the militants in southern Syria.
Local observers warned that any large ground attack in northern Syria will likely put an end to the de-escalation zone there. Apparently the civilians in northern Hama are well-aware of this danger, especially that the agreement allowed them to return to their normal lives for the first time since the beginning of the Syrian war.
