Syria’s war monitor says more than 130 people have been killed in fighting between the army and jihadists

A war monitor in Syria said on Thursday that clashes between the army and jihadists killed more than 130 fighters in the worst fighting in the country’s northwest in years, while the government also reported fierce battles.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions launched a surprise attack on the Syrian army in the northern province of Aleppo on Wednesday.

The toll “of the fighting ongoing over the past 24 hours has risen to 132, including 65 fighters from HTS,” 18 from allied factions “and 49 members of the regime’s armed forces,” said the Observatory, which trusts on a network of sources in Syria.

Some of the clashes, in an area spanning the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, are taking place less than 10 kilometers southwest of the outskirts of Aleppo city.

HTS, led by the former Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, controls parts of much of northwestern Idlib and parts of the neighboring provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia.

An AFP correspondent reported heavy, continuous clashes east of the city of Idlib since Wednesday morning, including airstrikes.

A military statement carried by state news agency SANA said that “armed terrorist organizations, grouped under the so-called ‘Nusra terrorist front’, present in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, launched a major, broad frontal attack on Wednesday morning.

It said the attack with “medium and heavy weapons targeted secure towns and cities and our military locations in those areas.”

The army “in coordination with friendly forces” confronted the attack “which is still ongoing,” inflicting “heavy losses” on the armed groups, the military statement said, without reporting army losses.

– Major highway –

The Observatory said HTS was able to advance in Idlib province and take control of Dadikh, Kafr Batikh and Sheikh Ali “after heavy clashes with regime forces with Russian air cover.”

“The villages are of strategic importance due to their proximity to the M5 international highway,” the monitor said, adding that the factions, which had already taken control of two other locations, were “trying to cut off the Aleppo-Damascus international highway” .

The Observatory said that “Russian warplanes intensified airstrikes” targeting the Sarmin area and other areas in Idlib province, in addition to “heavy artillery shelling” and rocket fire.

The Syrian conflict erupted after President Bashar al-Assad suppressed anti-government protests in 2011, degenerating into a complex conflict that attracted foreign armies and jihadists.

It has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and hit the country’s infrastructure and industry.

The Idlib region is subject to a ceasefire – repeatedly violated but still largely enforced – that was brokered by Turkey and Damascus ally Russia after a Syrian government offensive in March 2020.