Syrian troops kill 50 rebels

Damascus: At least 50 rebels were killed and 150 wounded Saturday in fresh clashes with government troops in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, media reported.

The Suqur al-Sham rebel group lost 50 of its fighters during clashes in the countryside of Idlib, Xinhua reported citing the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV, adding that a rebel commander was among those killed.

State news agency SANA also reported the intense battles in different parts of Idlib, saying that units of the Syrian army intensified their shelling Saturday on the rebels' positions after the rebel groups attempted to infiltrate military positions in Idlib.

Dozens of "terrorists" were killed in the Syrian troops' shelling, said SANA, adding that the battles have flared since dawn Saturday.

The Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and like-minded groups have recently intensified their attacks in Idlib in an attempt to consolidate their positions in that part of Syria, close to the Turkish borders.

The Nusra Front, furthermore, has also been engaged in battles against the rebels' Hazm Movement, a group comprising less radical rebels, in Idlib.

Following the attacks by Nusra Front on the Hazm Movement, the latter threatened that it would abandon its positions for the Syrian army if the attacks persisted.

The ongoing battles nationwide come even as representatives of the Syrian government and political opposition concluded their meetings in Moscow Thursday.

They failed to achieve a breakthrough in the talks that were supposedly aimed at paving the way for a broader conference to hammer out details of a possible political settlement to the country's long-running conflict.