The regime forces entered the key city of al-Na'aman Cave, in the northwest of the country. The place served as a stronghold of al-Qaeda's subsidiary

• Assad soldiers after taking over the city of A'arat a-Nu'man // Photo: AP

A source in the Syrian Army reported Tuesday to the Russian news agency Sputnik that the Syrian army was able to take over the city of a-Nu'aman cave, in the southwestern state of Adlib.

"The military is now strengthening its positions within the city while the military combat engineers are engaged in clearing mines and side charges left by the insurgents," the source told the Russian News Agency.

The city, which sits on the Milk-Idlib cliff, near the last provincial capital left by rebel forces, has been relentlessly bombarded by Syrian and Russian Air Force in recent months, bombing hundreds of civilians and tens of thousands fleeing the city.

For most of the civil war, the city was considered a stronghold of the Jabhat al-Nusra organization, which changed its name to Tahrir a-Sham and affiliated with the al-Qaeda terrorist organization. The extremists have long refused assistance from more moderate rebel forces, and sometimes fought other groups of rebels in the area.

The fall of the city to the regime, after two months ago, the city of Khan Sheikhun fell to the army, is another step on the way to the Assad regime's takeover of northwestern Syria, after nearly nine years of brutal civil war during which more than half a million people were killed, and millions more Became displaced and refugees.