Beirut (AFP)

Syrian regime forces are advancing on Wednesday towards the key town of Khan Cheikhoun, in the jihadist-dominated Idleb region, after months of deadly bombing, an NGO said.

Most of Idleb Province and segments of neighboring provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia still escape the control of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, eight years after the start of the conflict.

This region, dominated by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, former Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) and home to some rebel groups, has been targeted for more than three months by the regime's almost daily bombardments. his Russian ally.

"The regime's forces are now four kilometers west of Khan Sheikhoun after conquering five surrounding villages," said the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). "Only agricultural fields separate them from the city," he added.

Khan Cheikhoun is on the main highway that runs through Idleb and connects government-controlled Damascus to Aleppo in the north of the country, which is being rebelled by the end of 2016.

To the east, pro-Assad fighters are six kilometers away and are trying to gain control of a hill near the city, said the director of the NGO, which has an extensive network of sources in Syria. .

AFP correspondents on the spot have reported large displacements of inhabitants in the combat zones and their surroundings.

On Wednesday, 14 members of the pro-regime forces and 27 jihadists and rebels died in the clashes, according to the OSDH.

According to the official Syrian agency Sana, "army units continue their operations against terrorists ... in northern Hama and southern Idleb and have killed many" rebels and jihadists.

The region of Idleb was the subject of an agreement on a "demilitarized zone" concluded in September 2018 by Ankara and Moscow but only partially implemented.

Since the end of April, about 820 civilians have been killed in the bombings, according to the OSDH. More than 400,000 people have been displaced in the region, home to three million people, according to the UN.

Triggered in 2011, the war in Syria has claimed more than 370,000 lives and displaced millions of people.

© 2019 AFP