ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Air strikes on Friday targeted a bridge on the highway linking the Syrian cities of Homs and Hama, a day after the government of Damascus lost control of the latter to Islamist-led rebel groups, a war monitor said Friday.

"Fighter jets executed several airstrikes, targeting Al-Rastan bridge on the Homs-Hama highway,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported, adding the airstrikes were attempts to "cut off the road between Hama and Homs and secure Homs.”

The rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a major offensive more than a week ago, rapidly seizing the strategic cities of Aleppo and Hama.  

According to SOHR, the government’s forces have erected soil barriers on the highway north of Homs to slow the rebel advance on the city, which lies just 40 kilometers south of Hama.

At the same time, tens of thousands of members of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority community were reported fleeing Homs, fearing that the rebels would continue their advances. 

The Syrian government on several occasions announced their withdrawal from Hama was a temporary tactical withdrawal to protect civilians.

Defence Minister Ali Abbas insisted that the army's withdrawal was a "temporary tactical measure."

"Our forces are still in the vicinity,” of Hama, state media SANA news agency quoted Defense Minister Ali Abbas, as saying.