Syrian Turkish-backed groups confront government forces’ infiltration attempt
IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Turkish-backed armed opposition groups confronted an infiltration attempt by Syrian government forces on the Afes frontline in Syria’s eastern Idlib.
A field source told North Press that a group of government forces tried to infiltrate the frontlines of the village of Afes, where the opposition groups were able to repel the attempt and inflict human and material losses on the advanced group.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) thwarted an infiltration attempt by Syrian government forces on Friday, on the frontlines of Jabal Turkman, north of Latakia, which resulted in the killing of a number of government soldiers during the mutual clashes that took place.
Syrian government forces’ attempts to advance come in conjunction with talk of an imminent military operation in Idlib, evidenced by the size of the military reinforcements mobilized by the parties to the conflict.
The de-escalation zone has been recently witnessing military escalation and mutual shelling between government forces and the armed opposition groups targeting parts of Idlib, Hama, Aleppo, and Latakia.
On Monday, Russian aircraft launched airstrikes targeting Syrian armed opposition groups in Syria’s Latakia countryside, within the de-escalation zone.
A field source told North Press that Russian fighter jets targeted the front lines at al-Kabanah in the northern countryside of Latakia with high-impulse thermobaric missiles.
Idlib and parts of other provinces have been subject, since last March, to an agreement between Moscow and Ankara to stop hostilities in the northwest of the country.