SYRIA-CONFLICT

A member of the Syrian government forces watches smoke plumes rise from artillery fire near the town of Qumhanah in the countryside of the central province of Hama, on April 1, 2017. Syrian government forces and allies regained most of the territory they lost earlier during an assault by rebels and jihadists launched on March 21, 2017 in the country's centre, reported the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor on March 31, 2017. Hama province is of strategic importance to President Bashar al-Assad, as it separates opposition forces in the northwestern province of Idlib from Damascus to the south and from the regime's coastal heartlands to the west. (Photo by STRINGER / AFP) (Photo by STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)