Armed groups operating under the jihadist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) have escalated their attacks against the military forces of the Damascus government in Syria’s Idlib province in recent days.
The war watchdog the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Saturday that five soldiers of the Syrian army died and six others were wounded during an attack by groups affiliated to HTS in the countrysidesouth of Idlib.
The SOHR said it had documented 52 operations in the “de-escalation zone” in Idlib since early 2023, including assaults, gunfire by snipers and bombardment, which left 110 combatants and civilians dead and 59 combatants and 11 civilians injured, including a woman and several children.
The watchdog also reported on Sunday that a Russian officer arriving in Syria’s Manbij had replaced a group of Syrian government officers with military officers.
Turkey also reinforced its military positions in Idlib earlier this month, sending a new military convoy, compromising 15 military machines, trucks carrying heavy equipment and personnel carriers.
Idlib, the last remaining stronghold of Turkish-backed Syrian rebels opposing the Bashar al-Assad government in Damascus, is home to some three million people displaced as a result of the 12-year long civil war in Syria.
