Special to WorldTribune.com

Syrian regime forces have been put “back on the defensive” after Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) blitzed a key town near Aleppo on Oct. 27.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that ISIL jihadists were on the outskirts of Safireh, a major stronghold for President Bashar Assad’s regime in northern Syria. The regime is said to have several large weapons depots inside Safireh.

“ISIL has broken the defensive lines of the regime in Safireh, which is the most important military bastion for the regime in the southern parts of Aleppo province,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Observers say the attack in Safireh by ISIL is further evidence that Russia’s air campaign is focused primarily on anti-Assad Western-backed rebels and is having little, if any, affect on ISIL.

ISIL was able to “put the regime on the defensive when it was on the offensive,” Rahman said. Syrian forces, backed by troops from Iran and Hizbullah and air support from Russia, had launched an offensive in Aleppo province on Oct. 17 which resulted in the capture of a handful of small villages.

Safireh also contained production facilities for nerve gas and mustard gas, according to a 2012 U.S. Congressional Research Service report. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in June of this year that Syria’s declared chemical weapons had been shipped out of the country, but recent revelations showed that Assad’s regime had hidden large portions of its chemical arsenal.

  Bashar Assad, ISIL advances in Syria despite Russian air campaign, Safireh, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, WorldTribune.com