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Jihadist groups strip Syrian army of key stronghold in Idlib

Xinhua, May 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Jihadist groups has captured a key stronghold from Syrian government forces in the northwestern province of Idlib, a monitoring group said Tuesday.

An alliance of several jihadist groups, called al-Fath Army, seized one of the few remaining government strongholds in Idlib, taking control of a key town and a military base, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The alliance, where the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front plays an important role, captured the town of Mastumeh and a military base in the southern countryside of Idlib.

Large swathes of Idlib, including the provincial capital, have fallen to extremist groups over the past few months.

The loss of Mastumeh comes after days of intense battles, said the London-based monitoring group, which says it relies on a network of sources on the ground inside Syria.

It said battles were still raging at olive orchards south of the military base of Mastumeh.

Following the extremist groups' capture of Idlib on March 28, most of the government forces retreated and repositioned in areas in the countryside of Idlib, mainly Mastumeh and Ariha.

Now government control in Idlib is confined only to the predominantly Shiite towns of Kafraya and Foua along with Ariha and the Abu al-Duhur airbase in Idlib countryside.

Also on Tuesday, Syrian state TV said "terrorist groups" were waging "violent battles" against Mastumeh.

It said army forces, some withdrawn from Mastumeh, are consolidating their positions around Ariha.

The battle for Mastumeh came less than a month after the same radical groups swept through the strategic city of Jisr al-Shughour in the countryside of Idlib, near the Turkish borders.

Government troops were said to have started a counter-offensive for the recapture Jisr al-Shughour, but with no known progress yet.

The fall of most of Idlib province to the hands of extremist groups is considered a blow to the government, due to the province's strategic location near the Turkish borders and the Syrian coast. Endit