Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: Eight Syrian soldiers were killed in Syria’s NW on Wednesday in an attack carried out by the extremist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
According to Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, HTS fired rockets and shells at a Syrian military post, killing 8 soldiers near Kafr Ruma in Idlib province.
HTS is headed by ex-members of Syria’s former Al-Qaeda franchise.
Nearly half of the northwestern province of Idlib and parts bordering the neighboring provinces of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia are dominated by HTS and other rebel factions.
The region of Idlib is home to about 3 million people, around half of them displaced.
How Damascus snatched back parts of Northwest Syria?
With Russian and Iranian support, Damascus has snatched back much of the area lost in the early phases of Syria’s conflict, which erupted in 2011 when President Bashar Al Assad’s government mercilessly quelled pro-democracy protests.
Despite periodic clashes, a ceasefire reached in 2020 by Turkey and Moscow which supports anti-Assad rebels — has largely held in the northwest.
