The Turkey-backed opposition groups have reached the Turkish observation post west of Saraqib, lifting the siege by Assad regime forces, reports said Thursday.

The siege was lifted shortly after opposition forces announced they have recaptured the strategic town.

Meanwhile, Russian jets carried out airstrikes in the area after its recapture.

Earlier, the Syrian National Army (SNA) forces seized several villages around Saraqib, located on the strategic M5 highway, security sources told Daily Sabah late Wednesday.

Saraqib is on a strategic crossroad connecting the country’s two main highways, M4 and M5. The M4 motorway connects the port city of Latakia to the Iraqi border while the M5 forms the backbone of the country's highways, connecting economic hub Aleppo to central cities of Hama and Homs, the capital Damascus and to the Jordanian border further south.

The Bashar Assad regime seized Saraqib in a Russian-backed assault earlier this month.

The opposition forces backed by Turkey are continuing their advance with intense artillery cover fire, the sources added.