DAMASCUS, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army has reached the outskirts of the Maarat al-Numan city, the second-largest city in Idlib province in northwestern Syria, a war monitor reported on Monday.
The Syrian army has captured 14 areas since Jan. 25 evening in the southern countryside of Idlib province amid heavy airstrikes and artillery shelling, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Battles also continued in the western countryside of Aleppo province in northern Syria, where the rebels killed 12 Syrian soldiers on Monday during targeting their army positions on the outskirts of western Aleppo countryside, said the Britain-based watchdog group.
Capturing Maarat al-Numan will enable the Syrian army to secure the Hama-Aleppo road as part of an agreement reached in Russia's Sochi in 2018 that aims to secure the official road to Aleppo, which extends all the way south to the capital Damascus.
Since the Hama-Aleppo road is under rebel control, people have traveled to Aleppo through another extension of the road.
The army is now prioritizing the recapture of the entire road between Hama and Aleppo, which will enable the travel movement to return to its pre-war time from Damascus in the south to Aleppo in the north without rerouting to other roads.
