Off the wire
• Counter-terrorism to top agenda of Nigerian president's visit to Cameroon  • Israeli drone kills two Syrian fighters near Golan Heights  • Vietnam's Mui Ne listed among world's best destinations for sand-boarding  • Roundup: Turkey steps up fight against terrorist groups  • 2015 Euro-Asia Economic Forum to focus on building Silk Road economic belt  • 2nd LD writethru: Afghan gov't assessing report on Taliban leader Omar's death  • Weather forecast for world cities -- July 29  • Weather forecast for major Chinese cities, regions -- July 29  • Senior CPC official calls for more traditional opera masterpieces  • 1st Ld-Writethru: China approves renewable energy zone in Winter Olympics candidate city  
You are here: 　 Home

Scores killed in intense battles between Syrian army, jihadi groups

Xinhua, July 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

As many as 90 government forces were either killed or wounded during intense battles with several jihadi groups in northwestern Syria, a monitor group reported Wednesday.

The rebels' Jiash al-Fateh, or Conquer Army, an alliance of several jihadi groups, unleashed a wide-scale offensive against the positions of the government forces in the western countryside of Idlib province, a monitor group and the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported.

The Syrian army unleashed a counter offensive to recapture the lost areas, carrying out over 160 airstrikes on al-Ghab Plains and western Idlib, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The ongoing battles have so far killed 37 jihadists amid ongoing showdown in that region.

The rebels' offensive is the latest to target the government positions in Idlib, much of which fell to the very same militants, and appeared to be another attempt to fully control Idlib.

Meanwhile, militants in Idlib posted an online video, purporting to show the militants in the town of Frikah in western Idlib, with a rebel fighter declaring that their next targets will be the town of Jourin, and the Syrian coast, the hometown of President Bashar al-Assad and the heartland of his Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

The militants also showed footages of the captured strategic town of Zayzoun and its power plant a dam in the countryside of Idlib. Endit