Syrian troops advance into key rebel-held city

The Syrian army has advanced into a strategic rebel-held city in southern Syria amid a collapse in rebel ranks, the army said Wednesday.

Military units advanced into several areas of the city of Sheikh Miskin, one of the main rebel strongholds in Syria's southern province of Daraa, according to the state news agency SANA.

Troops entered the city and reached its hub and military housing bunkers, a statement said, adding that bomb squads began combing the streets in northern and eastern sections of the city following the rebels' defeat in those areas.

"The terrorists fled en masse following the death of their commanders," said the statement, adding that the Syrian forces managed to sever all supply routes into the city.

The exploit comes a day after the Syrian army captured the Brigade 82 base, thereby exposing the northern parts of the city to the army's attack.

Lebanon's al-Manar TV, the mouthpiece of the Shiite Hezbollah group, said the Syrian army succeeded in its incursion into the city with the aid of Hezbollah fighters.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based watchdog group, said intense battles are still ongoing between Syrian troops, supported by Hezbollah and Iranian fighters on one side, and several militant groups, including the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, on the other side in the eastern part of Sheikh Miskin.

The Observatory said that the military is engaged in capturing Sheikh Miskin as it constitutes a supply line for the rebels operating from Daraa, the origin of Syria's almost five-year conflict. Endit