Syrian regime makes strategic progress against rebels

An outside view of a farmhouse, damaged after airstrikes of Russian warplanes hit western rural residential areas, located within “Idlib de-escalation zone” in Aleppo, Syria on 18 January 2020. [Ibrahim Dervis – Anadolu Agency]

The Syrian army is reported to have made strategic progress in the fight against armed rebels in the area around Aleppo, in the north of the country.

Army units have taken control of the strategic town of Al-Eis, one of the major locations needed to have full control of the international F5 road, linking Damascus to Aleppo, Sky News has reported.

According to the media affiliated with the Syrian regime, Al-Eis was taken by the army units from three directions, forcing the “militants” to withdraw.

Only a few sites about 15 kilometres from the road remain under rebel control, with the Syrian army re-taking control of more than 42 locations to the south and west of Aleppo.

This is the first such strategic progress made by regime forces in the past few years in Syria, during which the areas in question were under the control of Turkey-backed armed rebels.

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