syria border crossing
© REUTERS / Khalil AshawiTurkish soldiers stand on a watchtower at the Atmeh crossing on the Syrian-Turkish border.
Syrian forces entered the town of Khan-Sheikhun in Syria's Idlib Province on Sunday, amid heavy fighting with Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists and their allies, targeting their positions and inflicting heavy losses on militants, the SANA news agency reported.

According to the report, the Syrian army targeted al-Nusra fortifications in the direction of Kafridon and al-Sabbaghiya, in the suburbs of Khan-Sheikhun, killing many of the terrorists, while other gunmen fled the area.

Earlier this week, the Syrian military liberated two villages in the south of Idlib Province after clashing with terrorists.

A brigadier general of the Syrian Armed Forces said that liberation followed violent clashes between the military and the terrorists from the Jabhat Nusra group, during which several fighters were killed and military equipment was seized.

In early August, a long-discussed truce in Idlib entered into force. However, the leadership of the Syrian Armed Forces said that it would stop military actions if Turkey implemented its obligations under the Moscow-Ankara deal reached in Sochi, Russia in September 2018.

The truce deal stipulates the withdrawal of medium and heavy weapons from the line of contact in the area.

Syrian government forces subsequently renewed activities in the northwest of the country following militant non-compliance with the agreement brokered by Russia and Turkey.

The northwestern Syrian province is the last militant stronghold in the country. It was overrun by the Nusra Front terror group in 2015 and subsequently accepted militants evacuated from other regions under a ceasefire deal with the government.

According to the United Nations, Idlib has approximately 10,000 members of the Nusra Front and al-Qaeda, who regularly use local residents as human shields.