Amid fierce battles .. Syrian regime forces penetrate further south of Idlib

Syrian regime forces pushed further into the southern countryside of Idlib (northwestern Syria), amid fierce battles with the armed opposition, which is trying to withstand the last remaining strongholds in its hands.

Al-Jazeera correspondent Suhaib al-Khalaf said regime forces took over the town of Abdeen, a few kilometers west of the city of Khan Sheikhoun, on a road linking Damascus to Aleppo at night.

The correspondent added that the clashes are taking place on two axes, one around the town of Abdeen west of Khan Sheikhoun and the other near the town of Skik east, noting that the armed opposition is retreating in the first axis and engaged in fierce battles with the attacking forces in the second axis.

Opposition sources were quoted as saying that they destroyed several mechanisms of the Syrian regime forces and killed members of the Lebanese Hezbollah.

The regime is no longer separated from the strategic city of Khan Sheikhoun, which is almost empty of the population of only three kilometers, and has taken control during the advance of several strategic hills, giving it a superiority over the armed opposition.

A few days ago, it took control of the towns of al-Hbeit and Sukik and several hills in the southern countryside of Idlib.

The Syrian armed opposition broadcast pictures that it said for destroying a tank, a machine gun and a vehicle transporting regime soldiers, after targeting them with anti-tank missiles on the axes of Skik, Tal Marq and Tal Aas in the southeastern countryside of Idlib.

Continuous shelling
Opposition activists said that the Russian-backed regime forces are now adopting a strategy of night control over towns and villages after being bombarded day and night with a large number of rockets and missiles.

Last night, regime and Russian warplanes carried out raids on towns in the southern countryside of Idlib, killing nine civilians, according to Al Jazeera correspondent. Activists said that among those killed was a member of the Civil Defense and two paramedics.

According to correspondent Suhaib Khalaf, the continued progress of the regime forces pushed more people to the displacement towards the Syrian-Turkish border deep inside the province of Idlib.

Syria Response Coordinators confirmed that 100,000 civilians have been displaced in the past four days alone. According to UN data, about 400,000 civilians have been displaced since the start of the military campaign by regime forces and Russia at the end of April.

In the countryside of Latakia province adjacent to Idlib, the correspondent of Al-Jazeera, citing the Syrian armed opposition, renewed clashes between them and regime forces backed by Russian aviation on the axis of the cabinet.

According to the armed opposition, they killed a number of members of the regime forces and destroyed them a tank after trying to advance on the same axis.

The HTS had claimed the downing of a Sukhoi 22 warplane for the Syrian regime forces and the capture of its commander during yesterday's battles in the southern countryside of Idlib.

While the authority said it was shot down by an anti-aircraft gun, the official Syrian news agency said it was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile in the town of al-Tamana.