Syrian government retaliates against HTS attack – Khmeimim
IDLIB, Syria (North press) – Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria, affiliated with the Russian Ministry of Defense, said on Monday that Syrian government forces targeted posts of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front), responding to a previous attack launched by the latter.
Tass cited Deputy Head of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria, Oleg Yegorov, as saying, “Syria’s missile and air forces delivered a strike at the facilities of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group in response to a massive drone attack staged by terrorists on the positions of Syrian government troops near Salma in the Idlib de-escalation zone, which claimed the lives of five Syrian soldiers.”
The Syrian air force “destroyed a militant training camp and their underground shelters near the settlement of Ashkhani Takhtani. Ninety-three militants, including field commanders Saddam al-Dedali and Abdullah al-Ahmed, were killed,” Yegorov added.
He noted that 135 militants of the terrorists were seriously injured.
The government strike targeted a drone workshop, a mobile radar station and up to 40 ready-to-use combat unmanned aerial vehicles, according to Tass.
The Russian Reconciliation Center said on November 5 that HTS intends to carry out a false flag operation in Idlib Governorate.
On Sunday, the de-escalation zone, in the countryside of Aleppo, Idlib, Hama and Latakia Governorates, witnessed mutual shelling between the government forces and Turkish-backed Syrian opposition factions, known as Syrian National Army (SNA).
The areas in the de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria continue to witness daily exchange of bombardment between the SNA factions and the government forces, despite being part of the ceasefire agreement signed between Russia and Turkey in March 2020, which stipulates a halt of military action in Idlib.