DAMASCUS, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army has become 2 km close to secure a strategic highway that runs along rebel-held areas in Aleppo province, a war monitor reported on Sunday.
The Syrian army is making rapid progress in the quest to secure the strategic highway linking the capital Damascus in the south with Aleppo in the north, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Over the past hours and days, the army captured over 50 towns and villages in the southern and western countryside of Aleppo, said the Britain-based watchdog group.
Earlier in the day, the Syrian army said in a statement that its troops have captured 600 sq km of areas over the past few days in the countryside region of Idlib and Aleppo provinces in northern Syria.
The army's statement said that tens of villages and towns, as well as hills, have been captured over the past few days in the southern countryside of Aleppo and the countryside of Idlib provinces.
The military campaign has targeted the "terrorist groups, which upped their aggressions against civilians and residential areas," said the statement.
The Syrian government, backed by its ally Russia, has kept up a military offensive in Idlib province and the southern Aleppo countryside over the past two months, aimed at securing the strategic Damascus-Aleppo highway that runs along the rebel-controlled territory.
