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Syrian rebel forces on Monday made several advances in northwest Syria, taking over several army checkpoints as they moved closer towards seizing two major bases.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Al-Nusra Front and the rebels in the Idlib province took over “the Salam checkpoint west of the town of Khan Sheikhun after fierce battles against regime troops”. The Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC), another rebel of activists in Syria, said that the Salam checkpoint was “the last regime position in the Khan Sheikhun area, which “is now completely liberated”.
Meanwhile, the Observatory has said that opposition fighters have blocked off the highway connecting the southern part of Idlib to the rebel-controlled Morek to the north in Hama. Despite losing ground in Syria, rebels have been making steady progess north of Hama and in Idlib in the recent weeks. The Observatory has added that the latest advance brings the rebels that much closer to taking over the Hamidiyeh and Wadi Deif army bases in the region, which have been besieged by opposition fighters for over a year.
Meanwhile, the al-Nusra Front claimed responsibility for twin car bomb attacks that occurred in the city of Homs on Sunday, which, according to the Governor of Homs, killed 12 people. “God generously made it possible for the jihadists of al-Nusra Front in Homs… to break through the strongholds of the regime’s shabiha (militia)… despite the many obstacles, security barriers and checkpoints”, the group said on its twitter account.
The group also said that the first car was parked in the Zahraa district in eastern Homs and the second car was parked in the western part of the city. Both of the suicide car bombs “were detonated at the same time, in order to secure the highest death toll possible”, the group added
