A monitor of Syria's war said rebel fighters entered the strategic central city of Hama on Thursday, part of a lightning offensive that has seen them take swathes of territory from government forces.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and allied factions "entered the city of Hama from several sides", the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, reporting "street fighting against regime forces in a number of areas".
Syrian rebel commander Hassan Abdul Ghany said in a post on X on Thursday that hundreds of inmates from Hama's central prison have been freed.
Assad's forces acknowledged on Thursday it had lost control of the strategic central city of Hama for the first time since war broke out in 2011, amid a lighting rebel offensive.
In Gaza, Amnesty International on Thursday accused Israel of "committing genocide" against Palestinians since the start of the war last year, saying its new report was a "wake-up call" for the international community - an allegation Israel has dismissed as "entirely false".