The Syrian Army has advanced in western Syria after heavy Russian airstrikes in areas around the main highway running through major cities, a group monitoring the war said on Sunday.
After deadly clashes, the military took control of Tal Skik, a highland area in Idlib province close to insurgent-held positions along the highway, Reuters quoted the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as saying.
Syria’s state news agency SANA said Tal Skik was now under Syrian Army control after an “extensive military operation” on the ground backed by Russia airstrikes against “terrorist organizations” in the area.
It said the military had destroyed weapons, ammunition and equipment during the offensive and 50 enemy fighters had been killed in the airstrikes. The Observatory and Lebanon-based TV channel Al-Mayadeen said a senior Hezbollah fighter had been killed in the clashes.
The fighter was the head of Hezbollah’s operations in Idlib province and was killed in the provincial countryside on Saturday, a security source with knowledge of events in Syria said.
Idlib is mainly held by the Army of Conquest, an extremist insurgent alliance that includes Al-Qaeda’s Syria wing Nusra Front but not the ultra hardline Islamic State group Russia says is the focus of its airstrikes that started on Sept. 30.
