BEIRUT: Eleven Syrian soldiers were killed in the country’s northwest on Wednesday in separate attacks carried out by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, a war monitor reported.

“HTS fired shells and rockets at a Syrian military post, killing eight soldiers near Kafr Ruma in Idlib province,” the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It later reported that “three Syrian soldiers were killed by sniper fire” near Kafr Nabl in the same province, adding HTS members were also responsible. HTS is headed by ex-members of Sy­­ria’s former Al Qaeda franchise.

Syrian state media did not immediately report either attack.

About half of the northwestern province of Idlib and areas bordering the neighbouring provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia are dominated by HTS and other rebel factions.

The Idlib region is home to about three million people, around half of them displaced.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said that since the end of 2022, the militants “have intensified operations against regime forces in Idlib... in the context of a rapprochement between Ankara and Damascus”.

He said exchanges of fire and clashes between regime forces and the group’s factions had killed more than 60 people since the start of the year, most of them pro-regime forces. One of the militants killed was a French national.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2023

Opinion

Editorial

Increased inflows
Updated 12 Jan, 2025

Increased inflows

Govt must devise a strategy to increase industrial and agricultural productivity to boost exports and reduce reliance on uncertain remittances.
Gwadar’s potential
12 Jan, 2025

Gwadar’s potential

THE Gwadar deep-sea port, completed in 2007, was supposed to be a shining success for the other newly built ports in...
Broken metropolis
12 Jan, 2025

Broken metropolis

KARACHI, Pakistan’s economic juggernaut, is the largest contributor to the nation’s tax revenue. The Federal...
Afghan outreach
Updated 11 Jan, 2025

Afghan outreach

Islamabad should stress stronger counterterrorism measures, yet also engage the Taliban high command in Kandahar as well as politicians in Kabul.
Fragile recovery
11 Jan, 2025

Fragile recovery

STATE Bank Governor Jameel Ahmed appears to be quite optimistic over recent economic gains. That is not unusual;...
Destination Europe
11 Jan, 2025

Destination Europe

THE country’s aviation authorities can rest a little easy. After a four-year banishment from European skies,...