Government forces and allied Shi’ite Muslim militias have forced numerous rebel pockets to surrender since Russia brought in heavy air power to help them in 2015, pushing the insurgents into an ever smaller number of enclaves. China says it will make efforts on Syria reconstructionThe northwestern area around Idlib province is the rebels’ most important territory. Some were heading to Idlib in the northwest, an area controlled by jihadists and the destination for all previous evacuees from surrendered rebel pockets, others to rebel territory in the southwest held by nationalist insurgents. The Syrian army’s advance against rebels in the northwest involved bitter fighting and intense air strikes on Thursday and Friday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor. The government’s gains across many fronts have ended rebel hopes of ousting President Bashar al-Assad by force.

Source: The Express Tribune December 29, 2017 13:17 UTC