TEHRAN- The Syrian army has regained control of a strategic town from Takfiri terrorists in the country's northwest, media reports and local residents say.  

They said government forces captured Qalaat al-Madiq and two nearby villages, Tal Hawash and al-Karkat, on Thursday.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said militants had withdrawn after being nearly encircled by the army.

The recapture of Qalaat al-Madiq on the southwestern edge of the Idlib region comes after government forces retook the nearby town of Kafr Nabouda on Wednesday.

Syria's army launched ground operations this week against the militant-held zone consisting of Idlib and parts of adjacent provinces.

Turkey and Russia brokered a deal in September 2018 to create a demilitarized zone in the region that would be evacuated of all heavy weapons and militants.

However, terrorist outfits especially militants from the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham terror group formerly known as al-Nusra Front constantly breach the agreement by attacking civilians and carrying out provocations against the Syrian army.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has recently called for the removal of any "obstacles" blocking the full implementation of the deal. He also stressed his government’s determination to eliminate terrorist groups holed up in Idlib.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last month that the remnants of Daesh and al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra were reluctant to abide by the ceasefire agreement in Idlib, Press TV reported.

On Tuesday, Russia said its surface-to-air missile systems had managed to foil an attack by Takfiri militants against the Hmeimim airbase in Syria's coastal province of Latakia.
Russia has been helping Syrian forces in the ongoing battles across the Arab country.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups that are wreaking havoc in the country.
 

U.S.-backed militants kill six civilians in Dayr al-Zawr

Kurdish-led militants from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by helicopters from the U.S.-led coalition, have reportedly stormed a town in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, killing and injuring a number of locals.

Local sources, requesting not to be named, told Syria’s official news agency SANA that the U.S.-sponsored militants laid siege to the al-Katef neighborhood of al-Shuhayl town for more than two hours on Thursday, before raiding the area and firing at people indiscriminately.

The sources added that six civilians lost their lives and four others sustained injuries as a result. SDF militants rounded up a number of local residents as well.

Back in late April, hundreds of people took to the streets in the northeastern Syrian towns of al-Busayrah, Masheikh, al-Tayyana as well as the villages of Tal al-Dhaman, al-Namliyah and Tayyeb Al Faall to protest the presence of SDF militants, rising cases of abduction and assassination in their areas and plunder of Syria’s oil wealth by the U.S.-sponsored forces.
The protesters closed the main roads to their areas, burning tires and demanding the expulsion of SDF militants from their hometowns.