Syrian government takes 'full control' of Idlib's 2nd-largest city

Syrian government forces took control of a town south of Idlib city on Tuesday in a significant advance for President Bashar al-Assad as he seeks to recapture rebel-held territory in the country's northwest, a war monitor and state media said.

Assad's campaign to regain Idlib province, the last rebel bastion in a nearly nine-year-long civil war, has sparked a new exodus of thousands of civilians towards the border of Turkey, which backs some insurgent groups fighting Assad.

People were fleeing towns in southern Idlib, a Reuters witness said. Some headed towards camps for internally displaced persons or rebel-held towns near the Turkish border.

"When the airstrikes began we fled our village and the area. We can no longer stay," said 39-year-old Mohammed Haj from the Jabal al-Zawiya region south of Turkey. "We don't know where to go, we just got in our car and left."

Syrian state broadcaster al-Ikhbariya said government forces entered Maarat al-Numan, 33 kilometressouth of Idlib city, on Tuesday and were combing its districts while advancing further into the town. The state news agency SANA said later the army had "liberated most of the town's districts."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said via WhatsApp that government forces "took full control" of Maarat al-Numan, the second largest town in Idlib province, after entering it backed by Russian airstrikes.

The renewed fighting comes despite a Jan. 12 ceasefire deal between Turkey and Russia, which back opposing sides of the conflict. Turkey already hosts more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees and fears millions more could soon cross the frontier.

Maarat al-Numan is located on the main highway in Idlib linking the capital Damascus with Aleppo in northern Syria.

Turkey's Defence Ministry said Turkish forces would retaliate "in the strongest way, without hesitation" against any attack on its observation posts in Idlib province by Assad's forces.