ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group has surrounded the central city of Hama from three sides, reported a war monitor late Wednesday, as clashes with the Syrian army on the outskirts of the city continues.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the anti-government forces have controlled Khattab village, three kilometers away from Hama on the northwestern side, cut off the road between Salamiyah district and Hama, after seizing control of Mubarakat village on the eastern side, and are only four kilometers away from the city on the northern side.

The Syrian army continues to fight off the advances, conducting air raids with the support of Russian warplanes on areas that the HTS has seized.

The Syrian defense ministry late Wednesday claimed to have killed dozens of rebel fighters in Hama countryside and destroyed their equipment and vehicles as a result of the airstrikes, while denying the reports suggesting the groups had entered the city.

“There is no truth to the news circulated by terrorist pages and some media channels that talk about terrorists entering the city of Hama from any direction, and the situation in the entire city of Hama is normal and safe,” Syrian state media cited an unnamed military source as saying.

Syrian opposition armed groups, led by HTS, launched a surprise offensive against the Syrian army in Aleppo and Idlib countryside last week, triggering one of the bloodiest escalations in the Syrian civil war in years. The clashes have so far claimed the lives of over 600 people, according to SOHR.