Syrian rebels on Saturday have engaged in fierce fighting with regime forces and allied militias in Hama province as regime seeks to expand its territory along the strategic western highway between Damascus and Aleppo.
The regime forces that advanced into the strategic town of Taybet al Imam on Thursday still face fierce resistance by rebels who were able to halt its advance in the town, which lies 18 km (11 miles) north of Hama city.
The rebel factions have destroyed three Tanks and armored vehicle, taking advantage of the U.S.-made TOW missiles, field sources told Zaman al-Wasl.
The rebels said the regime army was also joined by Iranian-backed militias in the push into Taybet al Imam, which was seized by rebels last year from forces loyal to Bashar Assad.
The regime forces were backed by heavy Russian aerial strikes across a large swathe of territory to the west of the M5 highway held by rebels in their six-year war, they said.
Dozens of aerial strikes and heavy artillery also hit the nearby towns of Halfaya and Latamneh, which rebels had seized only last month. Their alliance of former al-Qaeda fighters and moderate Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups have been trying to defend them in recent days.
Meanwhile, thousands of families had fled the fighting in the last few days, he added. The army's capture this week of Soran, a town just east of the highway, meant government forces had now regained most of the territory that rebels had seized in their major offensive last month in Hama province.
Soran is the army's northern gateway to the city of Hama, the provincial capital, and opposition control of it threatened the city.
The army has its eyes now set on the town of Morek, the next town after Soran going north on the highway crucial to control of western Syria
