The U.S. strongly denied Thursday having any role in the ongoing tumult unfolding in northwestern Syria after armed anti-regime groups claimed another key city.
"We're certainly monitoring the situation closely. Again, the US has no role in what's happening right now in terms of northwestern Syria and the HTS and their operations and the Syrian regime," Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters.
"The Syrian civil war has been going on for a while. This is a new development in that war. But again, we're monitoring closely, very aware of the destabilizing effect. As we've said earlier, we call on all parties to de-escalate, to ensure the protection of minority groups in the region. We don't want to see more death and destruction," he added.
He was referring to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a U.S. and UN-designated terrorist group that grew out of al-Qaeda before splitting with it in 2017.
Armed anti-regime groups took the key city of Hama in the latest milestone of their lightning offensive against Syrian regime forces on Thursday.
In a written statement, the Syrian regime's military announced their withdrawal from Hama and redeployment to its outskirts after the anti-regime groups took control of the city.
Russian aircraft are supporting the Syrian regime forces as fierce clashes continue.
On Nov. 30, anti-regime groups captured much of central Aleppo following a rapid advance from its western countryside.
The groups also seized the town of Khan Shaykhun, gaining near-total control of Idlib province.
