Syrian Army Opens Way to West of Aleppo-Damascus Highway

The Arabic-language SANA news agency reported that the army troops who had liberated the Eastern parts of the long highway in the past few days, could enter the Western side on Wednesday.

It added that the Syrian army soldiers could for the first time after years enter the village of al-Sheikh Ali in the West of Aleppo-Damascus highway.

For the first time in more than seven years, Syrian army forces managed to wrest control of a key highway connecting the capital Damascus to the second largest city Aleppo.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Tuesday that Syrian soldiers and their allied fighters had recaptured the M5 highway after liberating an area in Aleppo Province, which was the last militant foothold on the road.

SOHR head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that the Damascus government retook Aleppo’s Rashideen al-Rabea area, adding, “That means they control the entire M5 for the first time since 2012”.

The liberation of the M5 motorway, which links the capital Damascus to the major cities of Hama, Homs and Aleppo, comes on the back of a months-old operation by the Syrian army to liberate Idlib Province.

Idlib and the area North of Aleppo form part of the only large territory still in the hands of militants. The Syrian military has managed to undo militant gains across the country and bring back almost all of Syrian soil under government control.