Syrian rebels reentered the key northwestern crossroads town of Saraqeb lost to government forces earlier this month but fierce fighting raged on in its outskirts Thursday, an AFP correspondent reported.
The counterattack by jihadist fighters and their rebel allies cuts the main Damascus-Aleppo highway, which passes through the town, and reverses one of the principal gains of the devastating offensive the government launched against the country's last major rebel bastion in Idlib province in December.
An AFP correspondent accompanied the rebels into Saraqeb, where he found a ghost town of bombed out buildings deserted by its inhabitants.