The Syrian army and its allied forces have made major gains in the northwestern Idlib province, pushing deeper into the last stronghold of Takfiri terrorists and foreign-backed militants.
Syrian government troops have managed to liberate the towns of Khwain, Zarzoor and al-Tamanah in southern Idlib, opposition sources and residents said on Friday.
Opposition activists claim they have seen probably Russian jet fighters flying at high altitudes, dropping bombs on the outskirts of Idlib, assisting the ground forces in retaking the strategic city.
They also claim the Syrian army has recently been reinforced by hundreds of troops from the elite Syrian Republican Guards, led by President Bashar al-Assad's brother, and fighters from the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah.
The new lineup of Syrian troops facing a coalition of the Takfiri terrorists and mainstream Turkey-backed militants has been credited with the “rapid progress” achieved in the last few weeks, an army defector and two senior opposition sources conceded.
The fresh gains came one week after the army seized control of a pocket of territory in the northwestern province of Hama from militants who had held it since the early years of the war.
Since last Friday, the Syrian troops have pushed deep into a cluster of towns and their environs in the Hama countryside, encircling the militants and a Turkish military post there, shortly establishing control over the strategic town of Khan Shaykhun in Idlib.
Large parts of Idlib Province, occupied by the foreign-backed terrorists since 2014, and parts of Hama constitute the last major militant stronghold in Syria.
Syria is in the last phase of the war on the foreign-back terrorists as many terror groups have been vanquished from the Arab country since last year. The war-wracked country has wrest back control of many territories from Daesh and other terrorist groups which have been wreaking havoc in the country. The war has displaced millions of people in the Arab country since 2011.