Over 70 foreign-backed terrorists have been killed in recent clashes with Syrian soldiers and Hezbollah fighters in the western-central Hama province.
A UK-based monitoring group said that suring the last 72 hours of clashes, at least 73 militants have been killed in the Sahl al-Ghab region.
The director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Rami Abdel Rahman, said that al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front militants seized over a dozen strategic hilltops and other positions, including a power station, before being pushed back by Syrian troops and the Lebanese resistance movement fighters.
He said that in the past three days, the army has been able to take back nearly 50 percent of the areas it had lost and at least 42 Syrian soldiers and Hezbollah fighters were also killed the clashes.
He said that the ground battle continues along with heavy rocket and missile fire from both sides while Syrian military planes keep targeting militant positions in the region.
He said that at least 20 terrorists were killed during Syrian assaults against militant hideouts in the western province of Latakia.
Syria has been facing a massive foreign-sponsored militancy for the past four years. The conflict has reportedly killed an estimated 230,000 people so far, including nearly 11,500 children.
