Syrian regime forces faced fierce resistance from jihadists Thursday as they fought to capture a key airbase in Idlib, the last province beyond the government's control, a war monitor said. Russia-backed government forces battled their way into the Abu Duhur military airport on Wednesday night as they pressed a weeks-long offensive in the northwestern province.
Idlib province is almost entirely held by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist outfit dominated by Al-Qaeda's former Syrian affiliate. Government fighters have seized a string of villages in the southeast of the province since launching their offensive on December 25.
After entering the Abu Duhur airbase, regime forces faced "fierce resistance", the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. And on Thursday, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its Islamist allies led a counter-attack, retaking several villages from the regime, said the Britain-based war monitor. The goal of the jihadists was to cut off regime forces at the airport from their rear bases and "relieve the pressure" on them at the airbase, said the Observatory.
The battle, which was punctuated by air strikes from Syria's regime and its ally Russia, claimed the lives of 19 jihadists and rebels and 12 pro-government fighters. On Wednesday, 35 soldiers were killed at the airport, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources on the ground in the war-torn country.
The regime lost control of the Abu Duhur base in 2015 after a two-year siege by jihadists, with only the Shiite-populated villages of Fuaa and Kafraya remaining under its control in the whole province. Idlib's few rebel groups and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham have set aside their differences to fight President Bashar al-Assad's forces. The regime hopes to seize control of southeast parts of Idlib province to secure a main road between the capital Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo.
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