Syrian opposition fighters capture last Syrian town in Idlib province

The Syrian army has fled from the northwestern city of Ariha after a coalition of opposition groups seized the last city in Idlib province in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border that was still held by the Assad regime.
A coalition of rebel groups called Jaish al Fateh, or Conquest Army, said it had taken over the city.
The coalition said it had overrun several checkpoints that defended the city. The Syrian army said intense fighting was going on with rebel forces that had infiltrated Ariha.
Later the Assad army admitted its forces had retreated from the city, the latest string of defeats by the Syrian army and a big blow to the morale of President Assad’s government forces who have vowed to defeat Sunni militants.
Rebel sources say they have secured more U.S.-made TOW missiles in recent months that have helped them to gain a military edge over the Syrian army.
The loss of Ariha would leave the insurgents in control of most of Idlib a region that borders Turkey and neighbors Assad’s heartland in Latakia province on the Mediterranean coast.
The city, once home to more than 80,000 people, is strategically located on the main army supply lines between Idlib and Latakia.
Rebel sources said that convoys carrying army forces had fled to Oroum al Jouz, an area west of Ariha and in areas closer to President Assad’s ancestral homeland. The army did not comment.
Syria’s four-year-old civil war has killed a quarter of a million people and driven nearly 8 million from their homes.