DAMASCUS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- As many as 2,200 rebels have been killed since the Syrian army unleashed a counter offensive in the northern countryside of Hama province in central Syria on March 23, state news agency SANA reported on Friday.
The army regained tens of towns and villages lost to the rebels during a massive offensive the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front unleashed earlier this month in tandem with another offensive the rebels unleashed on the eastern rim of the capital Damascus.
The army foiled the week-long attack on Damascus, but the one in Hama was on a larger scale and the rebels of the Nusra Front and likeminded groups succeeded to take several key areas, becoming a few kilometers from Hama city, before the army went on a counter offensive to push back the advancing rebels.
SANA said that commanders of the Nusra were among the killed militants, including Arab "terrorists."
