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The jihadists and rebels are strongly opposed to the Syrian army which has been trying for three days to advance to the city of Khan Cheikhoun, south of Idleb. The fighting on Saturday, August 17, killed 45 people including at least 13 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. The sources of the regime speak of 34 jihadist fighters killed.
With our correspondent in Beirut, Paul Khalifeh
The battle is raging continuously south of Idleb province, controlled mostly by the former branch of al-Qaeda in Syria. Syrian government troops maintain strong pressure on the fronts around the city of Khan Cheikhoun, a major jihadist stronghold.
Russian and Syrian planes conducted 150 raids Saturday, and more than a dozen helicopters took turns all day to release barrels of explosives on the jihadist lines of defense or residential areas away from the front.
The Syrian Army is struggling to progress
But despite the firepower deployed, the Syrian army, which is three kilometers from Khan Cheikhoun, has not progressed in the past 24 hours. The jihadists oppose fierce resistance and have launched several counter-attacks that have allowed them to slow down the advance of the Syrian army.
Sources close to Damascus, however, ensure that the offensive dynamics of government troops can no longer be halted at this stage, and that the capture of Khan Sheikhoon is only a matter of time.
Meanwhile, the two sides continue to send reinforcements to all of Idleb's fronts, where fighting has already claimed 3,500 lives since April 30, including 940 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. man.