Syria Army Takes Key Rebel-Held Town near Capital
Syrian government troops recaptured the key rebel-held town of Adra northeast of the capital Damascus on Thursday, a security source said.
But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said fighting was ongoing and despite army advances, the regime still did not have full control of the town.
"This morning, the army retook control of Adra, reestablishing security," the security source told AFP.
The rebels captured Adra in December last year and regime forces have been fighting to retake it ever since.
They have advanced incrementally in the town, one of the country's biggest industrial zones strategically located northeast of Damascus.
The security source said the army had taken control on Thursday of an area in the town used to house workers, after securing the highway and the industrial zone.
He acknowledged, however, that Adra's small Old City remained under rebel control.
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman disputed that account, saying army forces had advanced in the residential zone, but fighting was ongoing, and the Old City was also still in rebel hands.
Source: Agence France Presse
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