File image.
On December 18, militants of al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the de-facto ruler of the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib, attacked a position of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) near the town of Arbikh in the eastern Idlib countryside.
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The HTS-affiliated Military Media shared a short video of the attack showing a militant opening fire from a machine gun at the SAA position from a long distance.
According to HTS’s claims, 15 soldiers of the SAA were killed or wounded during the attack. Syrian pro-government news sources didn’t report any losses, however.
This was HTS’s fourth attack on the SAA within a single week. On December 11, the group’s militants raided positions near the village of Dadikh in the southern Idlib countryside, and several others around the village of al-Bayda in the northern countryside of Lattakia. Later on December 17, the militants attempted to capture a position near the town of Kabtan al-Dżabal in the western countryside of Aleppo
The attacks came as Russian efforts to restore ties between Syria and Turkey, who maintains a large force in Greater Idlib, are gaining momentum.
A Turkish withdrawal from Greater Idlib is said to be one of Damascus main conditions to Ankara. Such a move would enable the SAA and its allies to resume ground operations against HTS and other terrorist groups in the region. This may be the reason why HTS is escalating now.
HTS’s recent attacks represent a blatant violation of the ceasefire in Grater Idlib, which was brokered by Russia and Turkey more than two years ago. The SAA and its allies will likely respond to these violations with brute force very soon.
