Free Syrian Army on Tuesday has recaptured al-Masasneh village in the northwestern Hama province as regime forces and allied Shiite militia press advances in the northern countryside, field sources said.
Backed by heavy Russian and regime airstrikes, the regime army seeks to expel rebels from the Hama province and to secure the Alawite dominated territory in al-Ghab Plain, local activists say.
This week, the regime army took Helfaya, Soran and parts of Taybet al-Imam towns north of Hama city, expanding its territory along the strategic western highway between Damascus and Aleppo.
The army has its eyes now set on the town of Morek on the highway crucial to control of western Syria.