Insurgents captured a town on a major highway in western Syria Thursday in a blow to the Russian-backed campaign against them, rebels and an activist group said. Moscow's intervention in the war on the side of President Bashar Assad, ostensibly to fight ISIS, has mostly hit other insurgents including more moderate groups, according to the U.S. State Department. Syrian army offensives backed by allied militia, Russian airstrikes, Iranian troops and Hezbollah fighters to retake territory from those groups in the west and northwest have had limited success at best. The capture of Morek was another blow to Damascus and Moscow. The town is north of the city of Hama on a major north-south highway crucial to control of western Syria. A rebel commander on the ground said Morek had been "liberated," describing it as strategically important. "It was a center for the gathering of regime forces and a point of departure for its operations," said Fares al-Bayoush of rebel group Fursan al-Haq Brigade, which is fighting under the Free Syrian Army banner. Another FSA commander confirmed the takeover, saying rebels would work to press north. "The next step for us is now to liberate the highway between Morek and Suran. This is where the Syrian army and its militias had retreated and where fighting has now moved," the Al-Izza group's Jamil Saleh said. Russian airstrikes had intensified against rebels following Morek's capture, he said, adding that the "Russians and their planes have been a bad omen to Bashar and the militias who are with him." A Syrian security source insisted fighting was ongoing and denied a major setback. Opposition fighters in the area "are being dealt with by the Syrian and Russian air force," the source said. Government forces fought for months to take control of Morek in October 2014 and lost many fighters, said Rami Abdel-Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "They worked hard to retake it last year and now they lost it in a few hours," he said, adding that insurgents had entered the town easily. The Syrian army and allied militia had not made significant progress after a month of Russian strikes, Abdel-Rahman said. "We cannot say the regime is going forward, no way." A statement by an army spokesman broadcast on state television later in the day said a number of "terrorists" had been killed in the area around Morek and nearby Kafr Nbouda, without elaborating. The setback for Damascus came as Russia said it has sent anti-aircraft missile systems to Syria to back up its air campaign. "We sent there not just fighter planes, strike aircraft and helicopters but also anti-aircraft rocket systems," the commander of the air force Viktor Bondarev said in an interview published Thursday. He said that Russia made the decision to bring missile systems to Syria because "we took into account every possible threat." A source told Interfax news agency that the systems deployed to Syria included the Buk and Pantsir systems. "The system is set up along the lines of Israel's Iron dome," the source said. Meanwhile, the Observatory reported that Islamist insurgents from the Jund al-Aqsa group, backed by other fighters, took the town overnight after firing hundreds of shells and rockets. Later Thursday, insurgents in Idlib province took over Tal Sukayk near the highway, an area which the Syrian army and Hezbollah had captured last month. Still farther north, Al-Qaeda's Nusra Front captured the areas of Tallet al-Maqbara and Tallet al-Saru after fierce clashes with pro-government fighters, the Observatory said, confirming online claims by Nusra. Regime forces did score a rare win Wednesday, recapturing from ISIS an alternative route further east that provides the government's sole link to neighborhoods of Aleppo under its control. For the first time since ISIS had cut the road, trucks of fruits and vegetables arrived in regime neighborhoods in Aleppo city, residents said. Also Wednesday, at least 12 people were killed in government shelling on rebel-held Douma, according to the Observatory. Elsewhere, the Observatory said at least 22 civilians were killed along with several ISIS fighters in Thursday air raids on the Syrian town of Albukamal, near the Iraqi border, but did not say which nation carried out the strikes. Also Thursday, France announced it would deploy its Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to boost its fight against ISIS. Russia has stepped up efforts to broker a peace deal between Damascus and the splintered opposition. Its deputy foreign minister said the Kremlin would invite representatives of both sides to meet in Moscow next week, and a Russian news agency reported that an FSA delegation had agreed to meet Russian officials in Abu Dhabi. However, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday it was unaware of any plans for its officials to meet a FSA delegation in Abu Dhabi late next week to discuss the Syrian crisis. Representatives of FSA-affiliated groups dismissed the report. Fursan al-Haq's Bayoush said the Russians had been meeting Syrians who falsely claimed to be FSA.
