The Syrian army, alongside Iranian-backed militias, have made significant gains in the country’s last rebel-held northwestern region of Idlib in the past forty-eight hours.
Syria’s state news agency SANA released footage that purports to show government forces moving into the town of al-Hobeit and a small village near Khan Sheikhoun.
According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, “The capture of al-Hobeit represents the most significant advance the (Syrian) army has made in Idlib province since the start of its offensive three months ago.”
A media unit of the Iranian-proxy Hezbollah, which fights alongside regime forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, described the town as the gateway to the southern countryside of Idlib, and to the main Damascus-Aleppo highway, and to the city of Khan Sheikhoun.
It is important to note that the northwestern Idlib region is the last major stronghold of so-called rebels, which almost exclusively include Islamist terror groups, such as: the powerful jihadist group – the al-Qaeda linked Tahrir al-Sham – as well as Turkish-backed Islamist factions.