DAMASCUS, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Turkish intense shelling has hindered the Syrian forces' push to retake areas fell to the Turkey-backed rebels in the city in Saraqeb in northwestern Idlib province on Friday, a war monitor reported.
Intense battles are still raging on the eastern outskirts of the city of Saraqeb in the eastern countryside of Idlib between the Turkey-backed rebels and the Russian-backed Syrian government forces, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Britain-based watchdog group said the Syrian forces couldn't advance in the counter-offensive to retake Saraqeb despite the Russian airstrikes against the rebels.
It said the Turkish forces are carrying out intense shelling on the Syrian government forces' positions to prevent them from advancing in Saraqeb.
Meanwhile, the state news agency SANA said the Syrian army is shelling with assorted weapons the "terrorists" around Saraqeb, inflicting hefty tolls on them.
The intense battles on Friday come as part of the escalation that took place in Idlib on the heels of the Turkish capture of Saraqeb, a strategic Syrian city that enabled the Syrian army to reopen the strategic M5 highway between the capital Damascus and Aleppo province.
A day earlier, Russian and Syrian airstrikes killed over 30 Turkish soldiers in Idlib, the latest escalation in the battle in Idlib.
Russia said Ankara failed to inform it that Turkish troops were fighting alongside rebels in Idlib.
