SYRIA’S government said today its counteroffensive had pushed back insurgents attempting to advance to the strategic central city of Hama.

Meanwhile, the insurgents, led by the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham jihadist group, claimed to have captured more Syrian troops and allied fighters in fierce battles.

The latest flare-up in Syria’s long civil war comes after forces opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad captured large parts of the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s largest, as well as towns and villages in the south of the north-western province of Idlib.