Syria rebels regain town from regime

SYRIAN rebels on Thursday reentered a key northwestern town they had lost earlier this month, reversing one of the main gains of the government’s devastating offensive in the region.

The counteroffensive could be short-lived however and Russian-backed Syrian troops continued to chip away at other parts of the rebel bastion, ignoring growing appeals for a ceasefire.

The UN Security Council, where Moscow has systematically vetoed truce initiatives, was due to meet again on Thursday amid growing concern Idlib was witnessing the nine-year-old war’s worst humanitarian emergency yet.

On Thursday, jihadists and Turkish-backed rebels managed to reenter Saraqeb, a key crossroads town in Idlib province they had lost earlier in February.

State news agency SANA acknowledged that there were “fierce clashes” between the army and “terrorist groups on the Saraqeb front”.