Syrian insurgents captured four new towns early on Tuesday, taking them closer to the central city of Hama, opposition activists said, while government forces retook some territory they lost last week.
The capture of the towns is the latest in the push by insurgents led by the Salafi jihadi Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, as well as Turkey-backed opposition fighters.
Insurgents now are about six miles (10km) from Hama, the country’s fourth largest city.
Syrian opposition fighters stand on an aircraft at the Al-Nayrab military airport after taking control of the facility on the outskirts of Aleppo (Omar Albam/AP)
The latest push is part of a wide offensive by forces opposed to Syrian President Bashar Assad that over the past days has captured large parts of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest, as well as towns and villages in southern parts of north-western Idlib province.
The insurgents’ military operations administration said gunmen killed 50 government forces as they captured the central towns of Halfaya, Taybat al-Imam, Maardis and Soran.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, confirmed the towns were taken.
The pro-government Dama Post media outlet reported intense clashes in an around the towns, adding that Syrian troops are firing artillery shells at insurgents in the area.
State media reported intense air strikes by Syrian and Russian air forces in the area.
People inspect a camp for the internally displaced after an air strike near the village of Harbnush, north of Idlib, Syria (Ghaith Alsayed/AP)
Both the Observatory and pro-government media outlets reported that Syrian government forces captured the village of Khanaser on Tuesday, days after losing it. Khanaser lies along one of the roads that lead to Aleppo.
The long war between Mr Assad and his foreign backers and the array of armed opposition forces seeking to overthrow him has killed an estimated half a million people over the past 13 years.
To the east, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement that they captured seven villages from pro-government fighters.
Syrian state media, however, denied the villages were captured by the US-backed SDF, saying the attack was repelled.
The villages are close to a base housing US troops in the area that is close to Iraq.
Military equipment is scattered outside Aleppo International Airport as opposition fighters take control of the facility (Omar Albam/AP)
Also on Tuesday, Hakan Fidan, foreign minister of Turkey, which is a main backer of groups opposed to Mr Assad, said the recent rapid advance by insurgents in Syria shows that the Syrian president must reconcile with his own people and hold talks with the opposition.
Mr Assad and officials in his government say all armed groups in opposition-held parts of Syria are terrorists and has rejected any political solution with them.
Turkey has been seeking to normalise ties with Syria to address security threats from groups affiliated with Kurdish militants along its southern border and to help ensure the safe return of more than three million Syrian refugees.
Mr Assad has insisted Turkey’s withdrawal of its military forces from northern Syria must be a condition for any normalisation between the two countries.