HTS claims killing of government soldiers in Syria’s Idlib, Aleppo
IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Sources in al-Fateh al-Mubin Operations Room, a formation including extreme factions and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front) in Idlib, northwest Syria, said on Sunday that HTS killed government soldiers including a first lieutenant officer.
The sources told North Press that five government soldiers were killed and two others were wounded by a sniping brigade of the HTS in Milaja in Zawiya Mountain, south of Idlib, and Basrton and Base 46 west of Aleppo.
They added that the factions managed to destroy a government site where weapons were stored in the town of Hazarin south of Idlib after targeting the site with a mortar.
Other military sources told North Press that the government forces also escalated their artillery and missile shelling of areas south of Idlib in al-Bara, al-Fatterah, Kafr Oweid, Sfuhen, Kansafra, Benin, and al-Ruweiha.
The mutual shelling coincided with intensive flight by Russia reconnaissance aircrafts over the countryside of Idlib, Aleppo and Hama, recording no airstrikes.
Although the de-escalation zone in northwest Syria is subject to a Russian-Turkish ceasefire agreement, signed in March 2020, the area witnesses frequent mutual shelling between the government forces and opposition factions, as well as Russian jet flights.
In March 2020, Russia and Turkey reached an agreement in Moscow that stipulated a ceasefire, the establishment of a safe corridor, and the conduct of joint patrols on the M4/Aleppo-Latakia Highway.