Syrian regime forces seized a dozen villages and small towns Sunday as they pressed an offensive in the country's northwest against the last major rebel bastion, a war monitor said.
Backed by Russian air strikes, government forces have kept up the assault on the Idlib region and areas of neighboring Aleppo and Latakia provinces since December.
They captured 13 villages and small towns Sunday north and northwest of the city of Aleppo, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Syria's state run agency SANA said army units were pushing on with their advance around Aleppo.
Regime forces have for weeks been making gains in northwestern Syria and chipping away at territory held by jihadists and allied rebels, focusing their latest operations on the west of Aleppo province.
In their turn, Turkish-backed armed factions said Sunday they had thwarted multiple incursion attempts by regime forces in the western region of Aleppo province, killing at least 17 troops, rebel sources told Zaman al-wasp.
Dozens of regime forces were neutralized along with their equipment including 12 vehicles, 24 tanks, eight anti-aircraft ramps, two light armored vehicles, four multi-barrel rocket launchers and two drones in the first two weeks of this month, according to Anadolu Agency.
Two military helicopters downed and crews killed in four days.
The drive aims to bolster security in Syria's second city Aleppo, which Bashar al-Assad's government
retook completely from insurgents at the end of 2016 but which is still targeted by rocket fire.
Last week, regime forces seized control of the strategic M5 highway which connects the capital Damascus to Aleppo, the country's former economic hub, and is economically vital for the government.
According to the Observatory, Assad's forces are trying to consolidate a "security belt" around the M5 and on Friday they seized a key base lost to the rebels in 2012 just west of Aleppo.
The Russian-backed offensive has triggered the largest wave of displacement in Syria's nine-year conflict, with 800,000 people fleeing since December, according to the United Nations.
Turkey says about 2 million people could head for the Turkish border with if no cease-fire is achieved in northern Syria.
Turkey has 12 observation posts in Idlib as part of the 2018 Ankara-Moscow agreement made in southern city of Sochi.
Erdogan threatened to attack Damascus if regime forces did not go back behind the borders of the Sochi deal by the end of February after 14 Turks were killed by Syrian regime shelling in Idlib this month.
Relations between Turkey and the United States have been strained over multiple issues including Syria but it appears the Americans are trying to capitalize on the tensions over Idlib between Ankara and Moscow.
U.S. special envoy for Syria James Jeffrey came to Ankara earlier this week, and voiced Washington's support for Ankara's "legitimate" interests in Syria and in Idlib.
But Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu earlier on Saturday insisted that Turkey-Russia relations "shouldn't" be affected by differences of opinion over Syria.
"The situation in Idlib will not affect the S-400 agreement," Cavusoglu said, referring to Ankara's purchase of the Russian air defense system criticized by Washington.
The U.S. has threatened to hit Turkey with sanctions over the S-400 deal.
The Turkish presidency also said Erdogan and Trump discussed the situation in war-torn Libya and "underlined the importance of restoring peace and stability."
And the leaders agreed to restart negotiations to increase bilateral trade to $100 billion per year, it added.
More than 380,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict broke out nearly nine years ago with a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.
Zaman Al Wasl with Agencies
Zaman Al Wasl
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