Another Setback For The Syrian Military

Nusra Front fighters walk with their weapons in Jisr al-Shughour town, after they took control of the area, April 25, 2015. Reuters/Ammar Abdullah

Reuters: Islamist rebels capture army base in Syria's Idlib province

(Reuters) - A coalition of Islamist rebels seized an army base in northwestern Syria at dawn on Monday after a suicide bomber from al Qaeda's Nusra Front drove a truck packed with explosives into the compound and blew it up.

The capture, reported by a rebel commander and social media videos showing militants inside the base, brought the coalition closer to seizing most of Idlib province and moving toward Latakia, the ancestral home of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The army had been using the Qarmeed camp to shell rebel-held towns and villages in the strategic agricultural region bordering Turkey. Controlling it should help the rebels tighten their siege on the major Mastouma army base nearby.

Syrian state media said the army killed scores of Nusra fighters and dozens of Islamist suicide bombers from Russia's Chechnya region in fighting near the base, but did not say the compound had fallen to the militants.

WNU Editor: This is another military defeat for the Syrian army in the province of Idlib. The impression that I am now getting is that these forces have collapsed in the past week.

Update: Speculation is mounting that the Syrian government is now losing this civil war .... Assad’s hold on power looks shakier than ever as rebels advance in Syria (Liz Sly, Washington Post).