BALADI NEWS
The Syrian regime took control of the strategic northwestern crossroads town of Saraqeb on Saturday in the latest gain of a weeks-long offensive against the country's last major rebel bastion of Idlib.
The advance came shortly after Turkey sent additional troops into the region and threatened to respond if any of its military observation posts in Idlib, set up under a 2018 truce, come under attack.
"Army units now exercise full control over the town of Saraqeb," state television reported, over footage of the town's streets, deserted after weeks of bombardment.
Since December, regime forces have pressed a blistering assault against the Idlib region with Russian support, retaking town after town despite warnings from rebel ally Turkey to back off.
The violence has killed hundreds of civilians and sent some 586,000 fleeing civilians onto the roads, seeking relative safety nearer the Turkish border
The United Nations and aid groups have appealed for an end to hostilities, warning that scale of the exodus risks creating one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of the nearly nine-year war.
But Bashar al-Assad's forces have pressed on with their advance.
Saraqeb is a strategic prize for the regime which seeks to take back control of two major highways that meet in the town.
The M5 motorway connects the capital to second city in Syria, Aleppo. Running up from the Jordanian border in the south, it is Syria's longest highway.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday that government forces were in control of the whole extent of the M5 in Idlib province.
Only a 30 kilometer (20 mile) section in neighboring Aleppo now remains in rebel hands.
Saraqeb sits at the crossroads with the M4, the main east-west highway in Idlib which links Aleppo with the Mediterranean port city of Latakia, a regime bastion.
The M4 is still largely controlled by militants and their rebel allies.