Following fierce clashes with rebel forces, Syrian government forces have reopened a strategic road that links the central heartland of Syria with the embattled northern province of Aleppo.
State-run SANA news agency and activists from the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights say the road was reopened on Sunday night, the Associated Press reported.
The highway had been closed since August due to violent clashes between regime forces and rebels trying to remove President Bashar Assad from power, AP said.
The road's reopening comes less than a week after Assad's troops captured the strategic town on Khanaser. AP reports that over the last couple of days, government forces have advanced on surrounding villages near the Aleppo province.
SANA's reports suggest that government troops "broke the siege," which had stopped vital supplies from reaching the provincial captial of Aleppo, Syria's largest city and once a booming commerical hub, according to AP.
Aleppo has been the subject of fierce clashes between rebel and regime troops since July.
