DAMASCUS — Syrian soldiers backed by Hizbullah fighters recaptured the town of Maaloula, north of Damascus, on Monday, April, 14, further squeezing rebels’ supply routes through the Qalamoun mountains into Lebanon.

Islamist fighters, some from the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, had taken over part of the ancient Christian town in December and held several nuns captive until releasing them in March in a prisoner-exchange deal.

Government forces have recaptured several rebel-held areas and border towns in recent months, closing off supply routes from Lebanon and securing the main highway leading north from Damascus toward central Syria, Homs and the Mediterranean.

“They are inside Maaloula now. It is under their complete control, including the monastery of Mar Thecla,” said a military source in contact with government fighters on the ground.

At another ancient Christian site, Mar Sarkis – a Greek Orthodox monastery dating back to the fourth century and located on a hilltop above Maaloula – a Reuters witness saw crosses and pictures of saints smashed and covered with dust on the floor.

“God willing, the army will be able to free all of the Qalamoun area within days,” a Syrian army officer in Maaloula told Reuters. “We can say that 80 percent of Qalamoun is under the control of the Syrian army.”

Syrian state television aired pictures of bodies it said were Nusra fighters killed during the offensive.

Maaloula, 5 km (3 miles) from the main road linking Damascus to Homs, has changed hands at least four times in attacks and counter-assaults by rebels and government forces.

Control of the road would help secure President Bashar al-Assad’s grip over central Syria, and would also enable safe passage for hundreds of metric tons of chemical agents that are due to be shipped out of the country this year to be destroyed.

Assad, who appeared on the verge of defeat last year, said on Sunday that the conflict was at a “turning point” in his favor.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki rejected his view.

“Our analysis remains what it has been, that this is a war of attrition, and neither side has been able to deliver or hold onto significant gains,” she told reporters.

Shortly after Syrian troops seized Maaloula, three Lebanese journalists working for Hizbullah’s al-Manar television were killed in an ambush set by rebels.

Al-Manar said two other members of the team were wounded but were in a stable condition.

In a statement, it accused “terrorists” of killing reporter Hamza Haj Hassan, cameraman Mohamad Mantash and technician Halim Allaw who were in Maaloula to cover the fighting.

“(The team) was killed after coming under attack carried out by … terrorists on the outskirts of Maaloula during their coverage of the Syrian army seizing the town of Maaloula,” it said.

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman condemned the attack, saying on his Twitter account: “Assassinating journalists is a cowardly act”.

The television channel aired footage of a bullet-riddled car in which it said its crew was traveling when they came under attack.

International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Thursday that a deal between trapped fighters and civilians in Homs city and the Syrian authorities had broken down, as government forces appeared close to retaking the besieged opposition area.

Homs, a religiously-mixed city, was the scene of early protests in 2011 and has become a symbol of the destructive nature of Syria’s civil war, with many of its neighborhoods leveled by army shells.

Hundreds of people remain trapped in the old part of the city, surrounded by government forces. A deal agreed to peace talks in Geneva this year allowed some civilians to leave but further negotiations broke down following heavy fighting this week.

“It is a matter of deep regret that negotiations were brutally stopped and violence is now rife again when a comprehensive agreement seemed close at hand,” Brahimi said in a statement.

The opposition National Coalition, a political body in exile, warned of a massacre if Assad’s forces were to push through into the small pocket of rebel-held Homs.

“We warn the international community of a potential massacre in Homs. The Old City has been besieged by regime forces for 676 days,” it said in a statement.

Jordanian warplanes have targeted and destroyed several vehicles trying to cross the border from Syria, the Jordanian military has said Wednesday.

A statement said the “camouflaged” vehicles tried to enter from a rugged area. When warning shots were ignored, the fighter jets opened fire, it added.

Photographs showed two unmarked pick-up trucks riddled with bullets, one of them on fire.

Syrian state media cited the army as saying it was not linked to them. A Jordanian security source said the vehicles were thought to have been driven by Syrian rebels.

Spokesman Mohammed al-Momani said the government was increasingly worried about “cases of infiltration” and “reports that talk about armed groups that are close to the border and the absence of security there.”

The kingdom sees the many hardline Islamist and jihadist rebels fighting in Syria as a domestic security threat, and has boosted security along the 370km border to prevent them entering.

Although it publicly denies supporting either side in the Syrian conflict, the Jordanian government is reported to have provided a staging ground for secular and moderate Islamist rebel factions and their foreign backers.