On Thursday, August 22, the Syrian Arab Army’s High Command announced that the strategic city of Khan Sheikhoun was under the military’s control after a short battle, Al-Masdar News reports.

The Syrian army was able to fully secure Khan Sheikhoun after entering the city from all axes on Wednesday, followed by a thorough combing operation to ensure that Khan Sheikhoun was cleared of all explosives and militants.

While Khan Sheikhoun was not declared under the Syrian Army’s control until Thursday, all of the militants from Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham and Jaysh Al-Izza had already withdrawn from the southern part of the city by Wednesday.

One of the major reasons Khan Sheikhoun fell so quickly to the Syrian army was due to the military’s capture of the strategic hilltop of Talat Al-Nimr.

Talat Al-Nimr is a large hilltop that overlooks both the northern sector of Khan Sheikhoun and the Hama-Idlib Highway (var. M-5 Highway).