Syrian army forces succeeded on Saturday to capture a village from terrorists in the central province of Hama as part of a military campaign backed by Russian airstrikes.

Syrian army forces succeeded on Saturday to capture a village from terrorists in the central province of Hama as part of a military campaign backed by Russian airstrikes.

Government forces seized Atshan village in Hama from militants including Takfiris and Al-Qaeda affiliate the Nusra Front, Syria’s state television and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Observatory, a Britain-based group, reported heavy fighting around the village as government forces sought to push northwest and take a neighboring hilltop.

With support from Russian airstrikes, they targeted the town of Khan Sheikhun, just across the provincial border in Idlib and on a key highway that runs from Aleppo to Damascus.

The highway is cut by terrorist forces in several locations to the north of Khan Sheikhun.

Hama province has been a key target for the Russian strikes that began on Sept. 30, along with parts of the neighboring provinces of Latakia and Idlib.

Russia: 55 ISIL Targets Hit in 24 Hours

In Moscow, Russia's defense ministry said Saturday that its forces had carried out 64 sorties hitting 55 ISIL targets in the past 24 hours.

29 field camps and ammunition depots of the terrorist organizations in Hama were destroyed in the air strikes, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

Heavy fighting was also reported on Saturday between government forces and militants in northern Latakia province.

Russian warplanes struck both Latakia and Idlib provinces on Friday and Saturday, including a raid in Idlib that destroyed a base belonging to ISIL terrorists.

In Aleppo province to the north, militants from Ahrar Al-Sham group battled to reverse an advance by ISIL that brought the extremists to within a few kilometers (miles) of Syria's second city.