Assad forces capture strategic village near Aleppo Airport

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad captured on Wednesday Dweirina village next to the International Aleppo Airport, Zaman Alwasl source said.

 The regime forces have entered the strategic village without any resistance where the rebels  retreated hours before,'' the source revealed. 

Last Friday, Assad's army, backed by Shi'ite Lebanese Hezbollah officers and Iraqi militias captured the last of three towns on the south-eastern approaches of Aleppo, state television said, advancing on the city after similar gains around the capital Damascus this week, Reuters reported.

Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub and biggest city before the uprising against Assad erupted in 2011, has been partly held by Sunni rebels and foreign jihadi fighters for more than a year.

State television aired a report on Friday it said was filmed in the center of the town of Tel Hasel, 10 km (6 miles) south-east of Aleppo. Black smoke was seen in the background.

The town is the forth on the road to Aleppo to be taken by Assad's forces this month after the capture of Tel Hasel, Safira, close to a former chemical weapons site, and Tel Arn.

Its capture helps secure army control south of Aleppo airport, which has been closed to most civilian flights since rebels fired at a plane last year, just a week after soldiers drove rebels from a base on the airport's northern perimeter.( with Reuters)