Syrian Army Retakes Key Supply Route from ISIL
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Syrian army regained control of a road southeast of Aleppo on Wednesday, state television said, taking back the government's only supply route into the city from Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants who had seized it last month.
Army forces took full control of the road which runs from Aleppo through the towns of Khanaser and Ithriya and links up with the cities of Hama and Homs further south, the channel flashed in a news bulletin. The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group confirmed the report, according to Reuters.
The road is the army's supply route to government-held western parts of Aleppo, home to around 2 million people.
Militant groups fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are mainly in the eastern sector of the city, which was Syria's most populous before the conflict broke out in 2011.
ISIL said late last month it had taken control of most of the Syrian army checkpoints on the road and seized large caches of ammunition from army outposts in the area.
Areas around Aleppo have seen weeks of heavy fighting after Syrian army backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters launched an offensive to retake territory around Aleppo from extremist groups.
The offensive has concentrated so far on clearing militant-held areas south of Aleppo rather than the city itself.
It is one of several assaults carried out by Syrian army since Russian jets began carrying out air strikes against terrorist groups.
Syrian army forces are also trying to advance to the east of Aleppo towards Kweires military airport, aiming to break a siege of the base by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and other militant groups.
