Syrian army on counter-offensive to retake key areas from extremists

The Syrian army on Sunday unleashed a counter offensive to wrest back control over areas recently taken by the extremist groups, the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported.

The reports said the Syrian government forces launched the offensive against the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and several hard-line groups in the vicinity of Jisr al-Shughour city in the northwestern province of Idlib, near the Turkish borders.

The report added the army recaptured the town of Ghaniyeh, south of Jisr al-Shughour, and large numbers of the militants have retreated to the outskirts of the city.

Meanwhile, the TV said the army also carried out attacks on Sunday to recapture several military posts, which fell to the jihadist militants in the al-Ghab Plains in the central province of Hama, close to Jisr al-Shughour.

Both areas are extremely important for the army as they are crucial supply routes and connect government-controlled areas in central Syria and the coast with the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo in the north.

Activists said the Syrian air force carried out relentless airstrikes against the militants in both areas to push the rebels to withdraw.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 34 people were killed as a result of the airstrikes in the countryside of Idlib, adding that the Syrian air force carried out tens of strikes against Jisr al-Shughour and its vicinity.

A source familiar with the situation told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that the Syrian forces have turned from the defensive mode a day earlier to the offensive on Sunday for the recapture of the aforementioned areas.

The rebels' seizing of Jisr al-Shughour and some checkpoints in al-Ghab came as part of the broader progress the extremist groups made in recent weeks, after capturing the city of Idlib, the town of Busra al-Sham and the Nasib border crossing in southern province of Daraa on the Jordanian borders.

In the northern city of Aleppo, intense battles continued between government forces and the jihadist groups in several areas, activists said, adding that the rebels blew up two tunnels in the old quarter of Aleppo city.

Al-Mayadeen TV said four people were killed in Aleppo on Sunday as a result of the rebel mortar shelling against government-controlled areas in western Aleppo.