BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian troops pushed Wednesday into a strategic town along the highway leading to the Jordanian border as a massive Internet outage engulfed most of the country for a second day.

The regime’s advance into Khirbet Ghazaleh, a town south of Damascus along a key artery to the border, came after weeks of fighting and government attempts to secure the highway.

Recommended Stories

AP Interview: Druse head scorns Hezbollah on Syria

Syria’s death sentence for Assad puts new strain on revamped relationship with Russia

Road to Damascus: Syrian rebels approach third major city