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BEIRTU: Clashes between regime loyalists and insurgents in northwest Syria killed 55 combatants on Saturday, as regime forces continued to nibble away at territory held by its opponents, a war monitor said.
Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) has since January controlled most of Idlib province as well as parts of neighboring Hama, Aleppo and Latakia provinces. Several other armed opposition groups also operate in the area.
Fighting in various parts of the region on Saturday claimed the lives of 23 pro-regime forces as well as 32 opposition and allied fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The regime also launched dozens of airstrikes against northern Hama and southern Idlib, the Britain-based monitor added.
The latest violence came as forces loyal to Damascus pushed a days-long advance toward a strip straddling the provinces of Hama and Idlib, it said.
They aim to capture Kafr Zita — one of the largest towns in northern Hama — and the nearby village of Al-Latamneh from opposition fighters, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
Both lie on the southern edge of the opposition-run bastion of Idlib, one of the last centers of opposition to Syria’s Bashar Assad after eight years of civil war.

Regime forces have closed in Kfar Zeita and Latamneh over the past week, after capturing a string of nearby towns and villages, the Observatory said. They are also trying to surround the nearby town of Khan Sheikoun in order to wrest it from the opposition, Abdel Rahman said.
The latest advances come after the Syrian regime on Monday scrapped a brief three-day cease-fire for the Idlib region, accusing its opponents of refusing to abide by the truce.
The region was supposed to be protected from a massive regime offensive by a Turkish-Russian buffer-zone deal that was reached in September last year. But it has come under increasing bombardment by Damascus and its backer Moscow since the end of April.

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