Syria: Fierce battles as Assad's forces enter Khan Sheikhoun

Wounded people are being moved away from the site around the collapsed buildings after warplanes of Assad regime forces and Russian forces hit the de-escalation zone, Jisr al-Shughur district of Idlib, Syria on July 11, 2019. It is reported that dead and wounded after the attack. [Bera Derwish/Anadolu Agency]

Syrian government forces stormed the town of Khan Sheikhoun yesterday amid fierce clashes with armed opposition groups, leaving dozens dead.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the government’s ground troops penetrated Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province for the first time since they lost control of it in 2014.

Khan Sheikhoun is the most important city in the southern Idlib countryside as it contains a strategic highway links Aleppo to Damascus. Regime forces have been aiming to take control of it, according to political analysts.

Bashar Assad’s forces are trying to advance deeper in Khan Sheikhoun in order to encircle the strategic town from the north and west and to seize the key highway, but they are facing resistance from opposition fighters.

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