Fighters of Syria's opposition have overrun the last major regime-held city in the northwestern province of Idlib, according to the monitoring group.

The fighters launched their attack on Jisr al-Shughur on Thursday, seeking to capitalize on their capture of the provincial capital last month and open up a strategic assault route to the regime's stronghold on the Mediterranean coast, the group said on Saturday.

"Al-Nusra Front and the Islamist brigades ... took control of almost all the city," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), told AFP news agency.

"Regime forces fled. Thousands of opposition fighters are in the city. Clashes are continuing in some neighborhoods where soldiers are attempting to break out."

According to reports from activists, the command of Syrian regime army and security units withdrew towards Latakia province in the early morning after fighters advanced in the neighborhoods of the city.

They said that some soldiers are still besieged in their bases and negotiating for their surrendering.

Jisr al-Shughur is the second largest city to fall to fighters after they took control of Idlib city on March 28.
SOHR also reported that regime forces executed at least 23 prisoners before withdrawing from Jisr al-Shughur.

"Military intelligence members executed 23 prisoners before their withdrawal from the area of the National Hospital in the southwest of Jisr al-Shughur," the Observatory said.

Twitter statement

Two days ago fighter groups of Ahrar al-Sham, Jind al-Aqsa, Jaish al-Islam and Nusra Front announced the battle of

Liberation of Jisr al-Shughur after the Syrian regime transferred all its offices and military commands from Idlib city to Jisr al-Shughur.

The fighters said on their official Twitter account: "The mujahedeen have entered the city center. The city has been liberated."

The Syrian regime made Jisr al-Shughur its de facto provincial capital after the same coalition calling itself The Army of Conquest overran Idlib city last month.

The Syrian Observatory's Abdel Rahman said that the fighters' latest victory was even more important as it cut a key road between the regime stronghold of Latakia on the coast and the central province of Hama.

The regime still controls a few areas in the east of Idlib province, including the town of Ariha, a military base in al-Mastumah and an airbase at Abu Duhur.

Al Jazeera has not been able to independently verify reports by activists' networks in Syria.

PHOTO CAPTION

Opposition fighters from the Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement fire grad rockets from Idlib countryside towards forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad, who are stationed at Jureen town in al-Ghab plain in the Hama countryside, April 25, 2015.

Al-Jazeera