Intense airstrikes overnight drove Syrian rebels back from the edge of Hama, a major city whose fall would pile pressure on President Bashar al-Assad, both sides said on Wednesday. Rebels have staged a whirlwind advance over the past week,

Syrian rebel forces arrived at the gates of the key city of Hama on Tuesday, as their fighting with the military sparked "a large wave of displacement", a war monitor said.The Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources in Syria, said Hama was witnessing "a large wave of displacement" due to fighting around the city.

Islamist-led rebels advanced on Syria's fourth-largest city Hama Tuesday, buoyed by their lightning capture of swathes of the north in an offensive that ended four years of relative calm.Normally, it would take just a couple of hours to reach Syria's third city,