Syrian army poises to recapture central town

The Syrian military is amassing forces to recapture a strategic town stormed by the rebels earlier on Wednesday in central Syria, according to the local Sham FM radio.

The army units are amassing at the town of Nawor Jourin in the central province of Hama after the rebels stormed the adjacent town of Bahsa in droves, the radio said.

The people of the Bahsa town have been evacuated to Jourin under the protection of the Syrian army before the rebels managed to storm it.

"The Syrian army is now poising to initiate a counter-offensive to restore the area while the Syrian air force is striking their positions in Bahsa and the nearby areas of Jub al-Ahmar and Foro," the radio cited a military source as saying.

The battle in Bahsa is part of the flaring military showdown in the Ghab Plains in the countryside of Hama, where the rebels are fighting to make a progress.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 20 troops of the government forces were killed on Wednesday when the rebels stormed Bahsa.

Ghab Plains region has a strategic importance as it overlooks three provinces, namely Hama, the coastal Latakia and Idlib province, the large swathes of which have fallen to the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

The plains stretch from the Latakia mountains and Jisr al-Shughour city in the northwest to the town of Mesyaf in Hama.

The rebel progress in that area could pose a threat to the coastal region, including Latakia, the hometown of President Bashar al-Assad, and the heartland of his Alawits minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Endit