Militants loyal to Bashar al-Assad have executed an old woman who refused to leave her house in the newly-captured town of Khan Sheikhoun.
Maryam al-Shalat was summarily executed on Sunday by regime militias, according to activists who circulated her photo on social media.
Two weeks ago, Assad’s forces took full control of Khan Sheikhoun in northern Idleb province.
Retaking the strategic town has long been a key objective of the regime, as the town lies on the highway connecting Damascus to the second city of Aleppo.
Since regime offensive began in late April, more than 900 civilians have been killed and more than 600,000 people have been displaced, according to local monitoring groups.
Most of Idleb province and parts of neighbouring Aleppo and Lattakia provinces are controlled by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist group led by Syria’s former al-Qaeda affiliate.
Russian-backed regime forces have been pressing an offensive against the region, despite a deal with rebel backer Turkey to protect the area, which was reached last September.
Assad, who now controls around 60 percent of the country, has vowed to reclaim the rest, including Idleb.
Eight years of war in Syria have killed 560,000 people and driven half the pre-war population of 22 million from their homes, including more than 6 million as refugees to neighbouring countries.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
