The forces of the Syrian regime have taken over the full range of the al-Tamanah town, southern rural Idlib, resorting to the same scenario they adopted to control the ‘strategic’ city of Khan Shaykhun, located on the Damascus-Aleppo International Highway.

At dawn, the regime’s forces advanced into the vicinity of the al-Tamanah, imposing a siege on its northern, eastern and southern parts, to then control the whole areas, Enab Baladi’s correspondent for rural Idlib reported today, August 30.

The Syrian regime’s control of al-Tamanah town, said the correspondent, bears many similarities to their control of Khan Shykhun city, starting with the siege, biting the surrounding area and, finally, coercing the opposition factions to withdraw.

So far none of the opposition factions, positioned in Idlib, has officially announced retreating from al-Tamanah.

In addition to al-Tamanah town, the regime’s forces have taken over the al-Sayed Ali hilltop, located one kilometer to the north of the town.

The hilltop is also a ‘strategic’ post, for it overviews the Imm Jalal town and the road connecting the Tahtaya village with the Aziza village.

“Units of the [Syrian] Army are in control of the al-Tamanah district, south-eastern rural Idlib, following violent confrontations with the gunmen in the area,” pro-regime Sham FM reported.

Yesterday, August 29, the regime’s forces controlled the farmlands located between Tell Maraq and al-Khwain villages, the full range of which they controlled to turn west heading to al-Tamanah.

The progress achieved by the regime’s forces focused on the same front, on which the opposition factions launched a military operation on Tuesday, from which they retreated, later on, unable to keep hold of any posts.

In the past a few days, the regime’s forces have advanced to ‘strategic’ areas in southern rural Idlib, the key of which are Khan Shaykhun city, located on the Damascus-Aleppo International Highway, and the Ltamenah city, the principal line in defense of Syria’s north, which the Syrian opposition’s factions are in control of.

These on-ground changes happened a few days into the summit that joined the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the Russian capital Moscow.

At the conclusion of the summit, the Turkish President Erdoğan stipulated that the Syrian regime puts an end to its attacks in Idlib, as to pursue work on implementing the Sochi deal, signed by the two states.

“Our responsibilities, stemming from the Sochi deal, cannot be fulfilled unless the regime stops its attacks,” Erdoğan said, as quoted by the Anadolu Agency.