Syrian rebels seize town in west in blow to government

Syrian rebels, including jihadists, seized the last government-held town on the main highway between second city Aleppo and the city of Hama to its south on Thursday, a monitoring group said.

“The town Morek is a strategic place; it was an important base for regime’s forces and their operations against Syrian opposition factions”, he said, pointing out “that’s why the Syrian army, backed by a Russian air cover, has been striving for recapturing it”.

Moscow’s intervention in the war on the side of President Bashar al-Assad, ostensibly to fight Islamic State, has mostly hit other insurgents including more moderate groups, according to the U.S. State Department.

Rebel’s recapturing Morek is considered a significant blow to the regime and its allies -Iran and Russian.

A rebel commander on the ground said Morek had been “liberated”, describing it as strategically important.

The Syrian air force jet was downed in northwest Hama, near the town of Kafr Nabuda, where fighting has been raging between insurgents and government forces backed by air cover.

He underscored that the meeting could not take place unless Russian Federation guaranteed that it would not target Free Syrian Army positions with its airstrikes.

“They worked hard to retake it previous year and now they lost it in a few hours”, he said, adding that insurgents entered the town easily, through government checkpoints, and seized large parts in the west.

A delegation of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) have agreed to meet the envoys of the Russian Defence and Foreign Ministries in Abu Dhabi, next week.

FSA representatives contacted by Reuters said the report was false, with one saying the Russians had been meeting with Syrians who falsely claimed to be FSA.