Syrian government set to retake key highway — monitor

BEIRUT — Syrian regime forces are set to retake a key motorway connecting the capital Damascus to second city Aleppo following weeks of battles in the rebel-held Idlib region, a monitor says.

The M5 has been long in the sights of the Syrian government as it seeks to revive a moribund economy after nearly nine years of war.

It connects Aleppo, once Syria’s economic hub, to Damascus and continues south to the Jordanian border and recapturing it would allow traffic to resume between economically vital parts of war-torn Syria.

After weeks of steady regime advances in Syria’s northwest, only a two-kilometer section of the M5 remains outside government control, says the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.

Pro-government forces are closing in today on the last sliver in the southwest of the Aleppo province neighboring the Idlib region where they have been battling rebels and jihadists, the monitor says.

“Regime forces have gained new ground and now control several villages near the motorway,” Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman tells AFP.

Since December, Russian-backed government forces have pressed a blistering assault against Idlib, Syria’s last major opposition bastion, retaking town after town from their opponents in the region.

The violence has killed more than 300 civilians and sent some 586,000 fleeing towards relative safety nearer the Turkish border.

— AFP