Update: Trapped Syrian soldiers break free from rebel-besieged facility

The Syrian army broke a rebel siege on a military facility in northwestern Syria on Friday, managing to secure a way out for tens of trapped soldiers, the official Syrian TV reported.

The Syrian army tasked with defending the National Hospital of Jisr al-Shughour city carried out a "tactical maneuver" Friday morning, managing to break a month-long siege imposed by the extremist groups on that facility, according to the report.

"After writing epics in heroism and steadfastness, the heroes of the National Hospital are out," the official TV said, adding that the process took place under heavy fire cover.

Meanwhile, the oppositional Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and likeminded groups succeeded Friday to storm the National Hospital, the government troops' last position in Jisr al-Shughour, which was captured by the extremist militants late last month.

The capture of the hospital in the southeastern outskirts of Jisr al-Shughour came after tens of government soldiers, who were trapped inside, managed to escape as battles were raging near the hospital in a bid by government forces to break the siege imposed by the militants on the hospital, according to the London-based Observatory.

The watchdog group said the battles were coupled with shelling and airstrikes.

Over the past month, the militants staged several blasts and suicide bombings at the gates of that big hospital in a bid to storm it and capture the soldiers.

However, their attempts were rendered flat as a result of the strong defenses inside the hospital and the Syrian airstrikes which repeatedly targeted the militants' positions around the hospital to keep them from storming it.

On May 6, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad vowed that his forces will reach the trapped soldiers in Jisr al-Shughour's national hospital and his forces have reportedly unleashed a counter-offensive to recapture that key city.

Jisr al-Shughour has its significance due to its location near the Turkish borders. The militants' capture of Jisr al-Shughour could facilitate offensives into Assad's coastal strongholds as well.

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

Last Tuesday, jihadist groups captured the town of Mastumeh and a military base in the southern countryside of Idlib.

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.

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