According to military sources, the army's missile and artillery units targeted the terrorists' positions inside the town concurrent with the start of the operations.

"The Army is advancing towards the town," a source said on Wednesday.

Meantime, the army troops could drive back militants from the Southern parts of Maardas while fierce clashes still continue in the region.

Also, the Syrian forces could fully purge the terrorists from al-Ebada, Jabal al-Akrad and al-Khazan farms on their way towards Maardas.

In a relevant development on Tuesday, the Syrian army units killed more than 25 terrorists of Jeish al-Fateh in the Northern parts of Hama province after the termination of the truce period in the country.

The Syrian army soldiers repelled an attack by the terrorists against the military posts in the village of al-Kabbaria, North of Ma'an, a field source said.

The source added that more than 25 terrorists were killed and three of their vehicles equipped with heavy machineguns along with a bulldozer were destroyed.

The Syrian Army declared end of ceasefire on Monday, regretting that militants did not adhere to any of the provisions stated in the truce agreement.

The Syrian army reaffirmed commitment to fight against terror after the end of truce, and did not add whether the truce will be reinstated any time in future.

The truce started last week. On September 9, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry announced a new peace plan to address the conflict in Syria that called for a ceasefire and anti-terrorism cooperation among other clauses of the treaty.

According to the Russian General Staff, the terrorist groups in Syria have violated the ceasefire over 300 times since it took effect, FNA reported.

S/SH 11