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Jihadist attacks kill 17 Syria pro-regime fighters: monitor
BEIRUT, April 27, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Attacks by two jihadist groups killed at
least 17 Syrian government troops and militiamen in the northern province of
Aleppo early on Saturday, a war monitor said.
Thirty others were wounded in the assaults by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria
branch, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and its ally Hurras al-Deen, which
remains affiliated to the global jihadist network, the Britain-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said.
The attacks in the southern and southwestern countryside of Aleppo province
were launched shortly after midnight and triggered clashes that continued
until dawn, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
He said the fighting subsided after Russian aircraft struck jihadist
positions in the area, prompting the fighters to pull back.
Eight jihadists were killed, he added.
Russia aircraft also carried out strikes in neighbouring Hama province
early on Saturday, killing five civilians, the Observatory said.
On Friday, Russian strikes killed 10 civilians in Idlib province, the hub
of territory held by the jihadists of HTS in northwestern Syria.
Russia and rebel-backer Turkey in September inked a buffer zone deal to
avert a massive government offensive on the Idlib region, but the deal has
never been implemented.
The region of some three million people has come under increasing
bombardment since HTS took full control of it in January.
The latest Russian air raids came after two days of talks on the Syrian
conflict between Turkey, Russia and fellow government backer Iran in
Kazakhstan earlier this week.
The three governments expressed concern over the growing power of HTS in
Idlib and parts of adjacent provinces, and determination to cooperate to
eliminate the jihadist group.
The civil war in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced
millions since it began with the bloody repression of anti-government
protests in 2011.
BSS/AFP/GMR/1349 hrs