The gains also signaled another defeat for Western-backed rebels who were driven out of most of the northwestern province last month by the jihadist Al-Nusra
...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant...
Front.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Al-Nusra Front -- the battered country's Al-Qaeda branch -- seized Hamidiyeh and Wadi al-Deif, the regime's largest outposts in Idlib.
The jihadists advanced in coordination with Islamist rebel groups Ahrar al-Sham
...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014...
and Jund al-Aqsa, the Observatory said, adding that a string of villages in the area also fell.
Al-Nusra Front claimed via Twitter it was "the only faction that took part in the liberation of Wadi al-Deif", and that it was now "chasing down" soldiers.
State television cited a military source as implicitly acknowledging the loss.
"The army redeployed this morning in the Wadi al-Deif region and is engaged in fierce fighting at Hamidiyeh," it reported the source as saying.
The attack on Wadi al-Deif, which began on Sunday, killed at least 31 troops and 12 jihadists, the Observatory said.
Speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, a source from Leb's Hizbullah
...
Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as
The Resistanceand purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
which had deployed fighters to bolster regime efforts in Idlib said "more than 3,000 (Islamist) gunnies" joined the twin offensive.
Mainstream rebels had been battling to take Wadi al-Deif and Hamidiyeh for around two years, but despite repeated attempts had failed to do so.
Charles Lister of the Brookings Doha Center said the gains highlighted the rise of the jihadists in the province.
"The nature of the operations has served to underline the renewed prominence of more Islamically-minded forces in Idlib, with Jabhat (Front) al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
and Ahrar al-Sham having played the dominant role in practically capturing the facilities," he said.
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said Al-Nusra had used tanks and heavy weapons captured last month from the Western-backed Syrian Revolutionary Front.
Its defeat of the SRF was seen as a blow to U.S. efforts to create and train a moderate rebel force as a counterweight to jihadists of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group.
Within hours of taking Wadi al-Deif, Al-Nusra and the two other Islamist rebel groups also seized Hamidiyeh, the Observatory said.
"They took 15 soldiers prisoner from Hamidiyeh," Abdel Rahman said, adding that helicopters evacuated senior officers late Sunday, hours before it fell.
After Al-Nusra and its allies moved in, regime warplanes launched 17 air raids against the base, the Britannia-based group said.
Thomas Pierret, who teaches Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Edinburgh, said the advance is important militarily because the bases are on a road linking the central province of Hama to Aleppo in the north.
Lister said the advance may pave the way for "a major assault on Idlib city", which like most Syrian quiet provincial capitals remains in regime hands.
The gains give Al-Nusra firm control of much of Idlib province, limiting the chances of a challenge from potential rivals.
Until September this year, Ahrar al-Sham had sought to distance itself from more hardline jihadists in Syria.
But a September 9 kaboom that killed its top leadership "pushed the group to align itself more openly with Al-Nusra", Abdel Rahman said.
"Now the two are fighting side by side."
On Monday, Ahrar al-Sham broke its silence on the September blast, blaming "a criminal group" with "international links". Abdel Rahman said this was an apparent reference to Western intelligence agencies.
Idlib was among the first provinces to fall, soon after the March 2011 outbreak of the armed revolt against
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Terror of Aleppo ...
's rule.
Syria's war began as a pro-democracy movement demanding his ouster, but later morphed into a brutal war after the regime unleashed a massive crackdown. More than 200,000 people have been killed in nearly four years, and around half the population has been forced to flee.