(Zaman Al Wasl)- 48 civilians were massacred by Syrian regime forces after being used as human shields in Hardatneen village in the northern countryside of Aleppo, rebels said as they recaptured the village Friday.
Al-Qaeda’s Syria wing Nusra Front backed by Islamist rebels on Friday have taken full control of Hardatneen village, arresting 8 militants loyal to Bashar al-Assad, activists said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebel forces had taken back the strategic Mallah Farms area outside the city, as well as several villages seized by the Assad troops in an offensive that began Tuesday.
The advances were a setback for the regime, which had hoped to block the highway leading to the Turkish border from the rebel-held east of Aleppo, AFP said.
The offensive was also intended to break a rebel siege on two Shiite government-held towns that have been blockaded for more than 18 months.
With the capture of the Mallah Farms, the rebels have succeeded in preventing government forces from blocking their supply route and encircling eastern opposition-held Aleppo, the Observatory said.
Before the offensive, regime forces occupied part of the strategic Mallah Farms sector.
"If the regime had taken that territory, they would have completely encircled the rebels in Aleppo," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
More than 220,000 people have been killed in Syria's conflict since it began in March 2011.
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