Syrian troops advance closer toward major rebel-held town
Syrian forces have gained more ground from insurgents in the country's northwest, edging closer to a major rebel-held town, a day after militants shot down a government warplane in the area.
The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media said pro-government fighters captured three small villages, just west of the rebel stronghold of Khan Sheikhoun.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said the villages fell on Thursday morning. It says the town of Khan Sheikhoun is being bombarded relentlessly.
