Insurgents on Friday seized a hospital from Syrian government forces who had been besieged there since late April, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, another gain by rebels who have dealt a series of blows to President Bashar al-Assad. Syrian state TV said soldiers holed up in the Jisr al-Shughour hospital in Idlib province had been freed, saying they had managed to "break the siege" in an operation co-ordinated with air strikes and artillery bombardment.
The al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, an insurgent group involved in the offensive, said government forces had fled. "The Mujahideen are pursuing them," a Twitter feed affiliated to the group reported. Assad has lost large parts of Idlib province to insurgents since late March, when the provincial capital fell to rebels who have organised themselves under the banner of the "Army of Fatah", or the army of Islamic conquest. Assad had himself publicly addressed the situation at Jisr al-Shughour hospital two weeks ago, saying the army would reinforce the besieged troops there and describing them as heroes.