Foreign-backed
militants fire a homemade canon on the front lines of Syria's
northeastern city of Deir ez-Zor on October 2, 2013.
Sat Oct 12, 2013 12:40PM
Syrian army forces have opened a road linking Hama to Aleppo and have regained the full control of about 40 villages.
The government forces made advances on Saturday following fierce fighting against foreign-backed militant in the region.
The Arab country’s army soldiers also took over Talfita and al-Joroud villages near the capital, Damascus.
The Syrian military said it gunned down a large number of Takfiri militants during the clean-up operation.
The military also pushed out militants from the strategic village of Abu Jarin in the south of Aleppo after heavy clashes.
The government troops have recently conducted successful clean-up operations across the country, inflicting heavy losses on the militants.
On October 3, army troops captured the strategic town of Khanaser in the northern Aleppo Province after heavy clashes with militants.
On October 6, the government forces also reopened a key road near Khanaser that links the central heartland with Aleppo after flushing out armed men in the area.
The route had been closed since August because of heavy fighting in the area.
Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011. Reports indicate that the Western powers and their regional allies -- especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey -- are supporting the militants operating inside the country.
According to the United Nations, more than 100,000 people have been killed and millions of others displaced in the violence.
On October 11, the UN children’s agency said over one million kids are among 2.1 million refugees who have fled to Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey since the outbreak of the turmoil in Syria more than two years ago.
UNICEF added that child refugees face the risk of exploitation in the neighboring countries.
SAB/SS
