BEIRUT/UNITED NATIONS: Syrian regime forces stepped up their offensive against Rankous ahead of an operation to retake the town, one of the last rebel-held regions in the Qalamoun area, an anti-regime activist group said Tuesday.
State news agency SANA said regime forces had taken a hilltop position overlooking Rankous and had seized a few neighborhoods of the town, killing a number of fighters from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front and other groups.
The Qalamoun region is strategic because it lies along the border with Lebanon and the main highway between Damascus and the city of Homs runs through it.
“The area of Rankous in Qalamoun has been under heavy shelling and continuous air raids since Monday, ahead of a plan to storm it,” Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel-Rahman told AFP.