Rebels have taken full control of Jisr al-Shughour Hospital which has been besieged for 27 days. Pro-regime militants holed up inside the building fled after regime forces could not break the siege imposed on them by rebel fighters. In front of a school in Damascus, Bashar al-Assad claimed he would send reinforcements to relieve the troops trapped inside the hospital and would retake the hospital.
Rebels said they hunted down pro-regime militants as they tried to break out of the hospital, killing, injuring and capturing dozens of them.
President Khoja said that “the latest series of rebel victories puts us in front of a new political reality and a new balance of forces. The Assad regime is now being defeated, and the Syrian people will eventually prevail,” in a speech he delivered in late April praising the important gains rebels have made on multiple fronts.
“The progress made by our heroes in Idlib, Hama, Latakia, Aleppo, Dara’a, and Damascus lay more responsibility on us to exert maximum effort, unite, denounce munity and discord, and to work hand in hand for local administration success in liberated areas. Several rebel factions of varied affiliations have achieved spectacular gains for which Syrians have made huge sacrifices. They are gains for all Syrians, and do not belong to a particular faction as regime supporters and some biased sides falsely claim,” Khoja stresses.
“During our meeting in Istanbul, military and civil revolution forces agree on the need to follow every military gain with more painful blows to the Assad regime through exerting maximum efforts to make the collaborative administration of the liberated areas successful.”
Khoja concluded his speech expressing thanks to “the friendly countries for generously supporting the Syrian people at all levels.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)
