DHAKA: Syrian rebels led by Al-Qaeda loyalists launched a major assault on the government-held city of Idlib Monday in a bid to consolidate their control over the northwest.

A monitoring group said, reports The Straits Times.

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 of Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front and Islamist rebel units attacked the city from all sides, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

‘Since dawn, fierce fighting has raged at army checkpoints all around Idlib city,’ said the Britain-based monitoring group, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria.

BDST: 2141 HRS, OCT 27, 2014