The forces of Bashar Al-Assad's regime and allied fighters resumed, on Tuesday, February 11, from jihadists and rebels the last stretch of a key highway in northwestern Syria, reported the Syrian Observatory of human rights (OSDH).
"The regime has taken over the Rachidine Al-Rabea sector"in Aleppo province, said Rami Abdel Rahmane, who heads the OSDH. "It means that he controls the entire (Highway) M5 for the first time since 2012 », he added. This highway is strategic for the regime because it links the south of the country to the big city of Aleppo in the north, passing through the capital, Damascus.
Unprecedented tensions between Syria and Turkey
Its recovery comes against a background of unprecedented tensions between Syria and Turkey, which supports certain rebel groups and has troops in the northwest of Syria. It also comes after weeks of an offensive by government forces and their Russian ally against jihadists and rebels in the region. Since the launch of the offensive in early December, the violence has displaced some 700,000 people, according to the United Nations (UN).
The pro-government forces had taken over the entire highway in the Idlib province in recent days, and they had a few kilometers left in the southern neighboring province of Aleppo to rally the city under regime control.
Just over half of the province of Idlib and the adjoining sectors of the Aleppo, Hama and Latakia regions are still dominated by jihadists from the Hayat Tahrir Al-Cham group (Levant Liberation Organization, former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda). The Idlib front represents the last great strategic battle of the regime, which now controls more than 70% of the national territory.
