Syrian rebels capture town in country’s west, seek to seize more

The Observatory reported that Islamist insurgents from the Jund Al-Aqsa group, backed by other fighters, took the town overnight after firing hundreds of shells and rockets.

The loss of the town comes as a blow to a regime campaign launched in early October with Russian air support to push into and eliminate a pocket of rebel control extending into the northern Hama countryside from southern Idlib.

“The issue that the United States has with this Russian intervention in Syria is simply that Russia is intervening on behalf of President Assad”, Keith Preston, director of AttacktheSystem.com, said Thursday. The more advanced Russian warplanes pack a far more powerful and accurate punch and have better observation capabilities than Assad’s air force.

Last week, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow was in favor of the Free Syrian Army’s participation in the Syrian reconciliation talks.

The hospital and the bridges – which Raqqawi said are symbols of the city and a source of local pride – are used by ISIS and local civilians.

Russian Federation has been carrying out airstrikes on Islamic State fighters in Syria since the end of September at the request of President Bashar Assad, Russia’s long-term ally. Latakia, which runs along the western coast of Syria, is Assad’s heartland, but rebels have a presence inland in the province’s north from where they launch attacks. This was the last government-held town on the highway between Hama and Aleppo. Al-Bayoush said he sent home 130 fighters who had been undergoing training because if a missile hit their training camp, “there would be a massacre”. Photo courtesy of Jund al-Aqsa.

The deployments appear to demonstrate Russia’s willingness to risk the lives of its personnel to maximise the amount of fire support its contingent in Syria can provide to pro-government forces fighting on the frontline.

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

Advancing IS forces had severed the road last month, cutting off food and supplies to tens of thousands of civilians in the west of Aleppo city. In parts of Hama, jihadi fighters from Uzbekistan and other parts of Central Asia with the hard-line Syrian rebel group Army of Conquest have played a big role in repelling government attacks, Abdurrahman said.

Russian strikes have hit Islamic State-held areas further east, but have been mostly concentrated in the west.

Still, pro-Assad forces have been claiming their share of success.