Hama maintains its calm amid Syrian storm'Soumar Ali (a pseudonym), a member of the pro-regime National Defense Forces, told Al-Monitor, “The city’s residents are peaceful; we know they are opposed to the regime and they may hate us, but they did not use their arms against us. The city is a big opposition bloc and certainly, if residents are given the chance, they will fill the squares as they did before. We are trying to win them over to our side since we are in daily contact with them. However, the fact that authorities allowed some foreign fighters from among those who participated in the battles of the countryside to come to the city foretells the failure of all our efforts.” '