Syrian regime's air force on Sunday has killed more than 34 people in air strikes on Darkoush, an affiliated district to the town of Jisr al-Shughour northwestern Syria, which was captured on Saturday for the first time in the four-year conflict by a hardline Islamist alliance including al Qaeda.
In a brutal retaliation to the humiliating defeats inflected by Islamist rebels in the last few days, Syrian jets carried out at least 20 air strikes on the town of Jisr al-Shughour and Darkoush on Sunday.
Field activists also reported that 18 detainees in Jisr al-Shughour were killed by Bashar al-Assad's military intelligence before they fled the town heading Latakia province.
The capture of the town of 50,000 people in Idlib province was the latest setback for government forces.
Last month the hardline Sunni Islamist rebels seized Idlib city, the provincial capital, after forming an alliance that includes Nusra, the Ahrar al-Sham movement and Jund al-Aqsa, but not the rival Islamic State group which controls large tracts of Syria and Iraq.
The Islamist alliance calls itself the Army of Fatah, a reference to the conquests that spread Islam across the Middle East from the 7th century.
The town of Jisr al-Shughour situated on the enclaves of Latakia, Bashar al-Assad's hometown, such a threat that has sparked anger among pro-Assad activists on the social media.
According to reports from activists, the command of Syrian army and security units withdrew towards Latakia province in the early Saturday after fighters advanced in the neighborhoods of the city.
In relevant development, rebels on Saturday took control of 5 villages in predominantly Alawite region of Sahl al-Ghab in the western countryside of Hama province.
Saturday gains in Idlib and Hama may haste the collapse of forces loyal to Assad as fear and panic hit high records amid the Alawite minority, activists said.
Zaman Al Wasl
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