Syrian troops on Friday reclaimed a cluster of towns they had lost early in the eight-year-old war, pressing their offensive in the northwest, the country’s last big rebel stronghold.

Axar.az reports citing Reuters.

The army drove out the last rebel fighters from the Hama countryside - the latest in a string of crushing blows across Syria - and advanced on a Turkish military post there.

Government forces have pounded the south of Idlib province and nearby Hama from the air and the ground this week, prompting a new civilian exodus. Hundreds of people have been killed in the campaign since late April, the United Nations says.

Rebel officials did not respond to requests for comment.