The Syrian army launched an offensive near Kessab, liberating Al-Zahi Mountain, as well as all the hills and woods on Kessab-Latakia highway that the militant groups used for deploying snipers and shelling the region, Aleppo-based Kantsasar newspaper reports.

The Syrian Army and its allies are now in a good supplying position in the coastal province of Lattakia after they brought the strategic Lattakia-Kassab highway under their control, military sources said Saturday, December 12.

"The recapture of Turkmen mountain (Jabal al-Turkmen) by the Syrian forces played a significant role in reopening the highway," a military source said, according to Fars news agency.

Earlier reports said that the militant groups withdrew from one of the tops of al-Koz mountain and Height 713 in the Northern side of al-Khdra village after the Russian fighter jets bombed their positions and the government forces broke through their defense lines.

The militant groups left behind scores of dead and wounded members and fled the battlefields.