Syrian regime forces on Tuesday stormed Maaret al-Numan, a rebel-held town of symbolic and strategic importance in the country's last major opposition bastion, a war monitor said. Maaret al-Numan in the northwestern province of Idlib "is fully encircled and regime forces have started to storm a western section of the town," which is mostly deserted after months of bombardment, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. bur-ho/ah/dr