Syrian rebels, led by Al-Qaeda loyalists. launched a major assault on the government-held city of Idlib on Monday in a bid to consolidate their control over the northwest, a monitoring group told AFP.
Rebels seized control of most of Idlib province early in the three and a half year old civil war but troops have held out in the provincial capital, resupplied by air.
Fighters from the Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front and Islamist rebel units attacked the city from all sides, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.