DAMASCUS, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- The al-Qaida-linked militants entered on Sunday the largest city in the western countryside of northern Syria's Aleppo province, the latest in a series of advances made against the Turkey-backed rebels.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the umbrella group of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, entered the city of Atareb, some 25 km west of the capital city of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor.
The capture of Atareb is the latest advance of the HTS against the Turkey-backed National Liberation Front (NLF), as the HTS managed in less than a week to strip the NLF of the entire western countryside of Aleppo, including closer to the capital city, which is under full government control since late 2016.
The HTS has controlled a large area, stretching from the western outskirts of Aleppo city to areas near the Turkish Iskenderun city, according to the Observatory.
With the recent progress, the HTS isolated the Turkey-backed rebels in Aleppo countryside from the northwestern province of Idlib, which is considered as the last major rebels' pocket in Syria.
The infighting has its significance as the areas that have fallen to the al-Qaida-linked group are part of the demilitarized zones' deal reached between Russian and Turkey last September.
According to the deal, Turkey should have pushed the al-Qaida-linked rebels and those affiliated as terrorist groups out of the zone, which did not happen.
