In Syria, the leader of the powerful armed opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — a former al-Qaeda affiliate — has declared that opposition forces have taken complete control of the central city of Hama. In an interview with CNN published today, Abu Mohammad al-Julani said his group’s ultimate goal is to overthrow Syria’s authoritarian President Bashar al-Assad. Armed groups now control Hama’s military airport and were seen freeing prisoners from the city’s jails. They’ve since pushed further south, claiming “complete and rapid control” of the northern suburbs of Homs, Syria’s third-largest city. Overnight, thousands of Homs residents fled toward Syria’s western coast. On Thursday, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement pledged its support to the embattled Syrian government, which faces one of the largest challenges to Bashar al-Assad’s authority in 13 years of bloody civil war.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Syrians displaced by violence are struggling to survive amid freezing temperatures. This is Shafiqa Saeeda, a Yazidi Syrian whose family fled to a camp in northern Syria.

Shafiqa Saeeda: “We were staying in al-Shahba. They said the Free Syrian Army would enter the area. We were afraid because there were women with us. We were afraid that they would kidnap them from us. … Our baby grandson was born on the third day here. We were sleeping outside. There was no tent or anything. We didn’t find anything to eat when we got hungry, and there were no ovens to cook. The baby was born here, and we named him Afrin, after our city.”