• Tweeter

  • republish

The Syrian army, backed by Russia, conducted nearly 200 air raids on the city of Khan Cheikhoun, as here on August 5, 2019. Omar HAJ KADOUR / AFP

The jihadists, who dominate most of Idleb province in the north-west of the country, met with "fierce resistance," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

With our correspondent in Beirut, Paul Khalifeh

The entry of the Syrian army into the city of Khan Cheikhoun has a twofold symbolic and strategic importance. Symbolically, this stronghold of the former al-Qaida branch of Syria was the target of a chemical weapons attack in April 2017, which claimed more than 80 lives, according to the United Nations. In response to this attack on toxic agents, US President Donald Trump ordered strikes against Syrian military sites in several parts of the country.

On a strategic level, Khan Cheikhoun is not far from the Damascus-Aleppo highway, closed for more than five years and which makes it easier to connect the capital city to the great metropolis of the north. Taking the city helps secure a large stretch of this important road.

Syrian army units entered Khan Sheikhoun from the north-west after heavy artillery shelling and nearly 200 air raids by Russian and Syrian planes and helicopters. The jihadists resisted relentlessly, resorting to suicide attacks to try to curb the progress of the government troops. The fighting has killed about 100 people in both camps in the last 24 hours.

Clashes are continuing in some neighborhoods, but defenders have withdrawn most of their forces for fear that they will be encircled in this deserted city by its 100,000 inhabitants.