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DAMASCUS, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army killed 150 rebels during battles in the country's central province of Hama on Wednesday, state-run SANA news agency said, as activists reported an imminent release of prisoners from Hama's central prison, a monitor group reported.
The military forces killed the rebels near the town of Maardis in the northern countryside of Hama, said SANA.
The Syrian army lost control of Maardis a week ago, following a wide-scale rebel offensive in northern Hama, in a bid to attract the attention of the Syrian army to that area and lower the pressure on the rebels in the northern city of Aleppo.
A day earlier, SANA said the army units succeeded to wrest control over the western neighborhood in the town.
Meanwhile, the activists Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said as many as 85 prisoners are set to be released from Hama central prison within the next hours in exchange for the bodies of Russian pilots, whose aircraft was downed by the rebels in August in the countryside of the northwestern province of Idlib.
A second batch of prisoners will be released later, as part of the exchange deal, the UK-based watchdog added.
The northern countryside of Hama has returned under the spotlight after the rebels carried out repetitive attacks on government positions in that area.
The attacks are part of their efforts to get the army busy with more than one front to reduce the pressure on rebels in other parts of northern Syria.
Recent reports said the rebels in the northern province of Aleppo are reeling under fresh pressure by the Syrian army, which has recently closed the routes to the besieged rebel-held areas in the eastern part of Aleppo city.
The northern region in Hama is also close to the northwestern province of Idlib, a key stronghold for the rebels' Jaish al-Fateh, or the Army of Conquest.
SANA said the rebels there unleashed their attacks on Hama from areas close to Idlib.
