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Islamist rebels capture Syrian city

by Mark Hensch - 03/28/15 4:01 PM ET

Islamist rebels in Syria on Saturday seized the city of Idlib from government military forces.

The BBC reported insurgents conquered the population center after four days of fierce combat. It sits near Syria’s main highway, a vital artery connecting the capital in Damascus with the major commercial center of Aleppo.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights identified the rebels as members of the Ahrar al-Sham, Jund al-Aqsa and Nusra Front groups. The BBC said all three factions had waged a prolonged campaign for Idlib for months.

{mosads}The city’s fall marks the latest blow to Syrian President Bashar Assad. The embattled leader also lost Busra earlier this week.

Assad said Friday he was “open” to talks with the U.S. about ending his nation’s bloody civil war. The brutal conflict began in 2011 and has since claimed an estimated 200,000 lives, according to the United Nations.

“Every dialogue is a positive thing, and we are going to be open to dialogue with anyone, including the United States,” Assad told Charlie Rose in an interview Thursday for CBS News’s “60 Minutes.”

Assad added his regime no longer communicates with the Obama administration. President Obama has long maintained Assad has lost his legitimacy and must relinquish power.

Secretary of State John Kerry said March 15 that the West will ultimately include Assad’s government in any diplomatic solution to the gruesome war.

“We have to negotiate in the end,” he said during an interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”

Islamist rebels have seized Syrian cities before. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) captured Ar-Raqqa last year.

The Pentagon revealed Thursday it dropped 60,000 leaflets in Ar-Raqqa on March 16. It said that they featured a grisly cartoon meant to dissuade residents from joining ISIS’s ranks.

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