Syria Army Launches Retaliatory Attack, Kills Scores in Hama
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Syria’s army and its allies inflicted heavy losses on terrorists in the northern province of Hama in response to the militants’ breach of a buffer zone deal in Idlib.
Syrian forces shelled the positions of al-Nusra terrorists in al-Hawiz village in east of al-Ghab plain in Hama after they violated the safe zone agreement in Idlib, SANA reported.
The so-called safe zones declared in Idlib have seen Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorists attacking Turkish-backed militants from the so-called National Front for Liberation (NFL) in a bid to seize key roads in the province and gain ground in neighboring Hama.
The report added that scores of the terrorists were killed and injured during the raids.
Under the deal reached following a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in September, all militants should have withdrawn from the demilitarization zone by October 15.
However, al-Qaeda-linked Takfiri terrorists said they refuse to either leave the buffer zone or hand over their weapons.
Moscow believed that the 15-20 kilometer buffer zone would help stop attacks from Idlib-based militants on Syrian army positions and Russia's military bases in the flashpoint region.
Idlib and some surrounding areas are the last major bastions of Takfiri terrorists and anti-government militants in Syria, where the Syrian government has in recent months retaken much of the territory it had lost since the conflict erupted in the country in 2011.