Syrian rebels recaptured a village and surrounding areas in the west of the country on Friday, consolidating significant advances made the day before at the expense of pro-government forces, a monitoring group said. Fighters from the Ahrar al-Sham Islamist group and other rebel forces took over the village of Atshan in their latest gains in Hama province, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Syrian government forces and allied militia, backed by Russian air strikes and ground support by Iranian troops and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, have been waging a fierce campaign that the United States says has mostly targeted foreign-backed or moderate insurgents. Moscow, which intervened more than a month ago, has said its campaign targets Islamic State. Atshan is close to the town of Morek, which rebels took in an assault led by Islamist insurgents of the Jund al-Aqsa group on Thursday. Syrian government forces had captured […]