Syria regime gains ground in deadly Idlib push: monitor

BEIRUT: Syrian regime forces seized a town on the edge of Idlib province Sunday, a monitor said, their first ground advance since resuming an offensive on the jihadist-dominated enclave more than three months ago.
The region of northwestern Syria , which is home to an estimated three million civilians, has come under almost daily Syrian and Russian bombardment since late April.
The most recent fighting focused on an area straddling Idlib and Hama provinces, a war monitor said, and claimed dozens of lives on both sides.
“Regime forces seized the town of Al-Habeet, in Idlib’s southern countryside, at dawn,” Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, said.
Also Read Syria’s Idlib enclave: how does it work? The regime’s latest gains were in the north of Hama province, which lies to the south of Idlib .
The area has escaped the control of President Bashar al-Assad’s government since 2015 and is the last major bastion of opposition to his regime and its allies.