© Sputnik / Iliya Pitalev
On July 4, an entire family was killed when militants based in the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib, which is ruled by al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), shelled the government-held town of Urem Al-Kubra in the nearby western Aleppo countryside.
The official Syrian Arab News Agency said that a civilian man was killed along with his wife and two young daughters in the attack, which represents a violation of the ceasefire in Greater Idlib.
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In response to this violation, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) carried out a series of artillery strikes on positions of HTS and its allies near the towns of Darat Izza, Kafr Nouran, Kafr Amma, Kafr Taal and Takad in the western Aleppo countryside. Anas Barakat, the commander of an elite unit in the Sham Legion, was killed in the strikes that targeted Kafr Nouran.
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The Sham Legion is Turkey’s main proxy group in Greater Idlib. Yet, it is allied to HTS and its militants launch attacks under the command of the terrorist group.
Last month, the SAA and the Russian military group in Syria launched a series of strikes against HTS and its allies in Greater Idlib to reinforce the ceasefire. The strikes killed or wounded dozens of militants and destroyed a number of headquarters, workshops and depots.
The Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria warned later that the strikes will continue until all militants who violate the ceasefire in the region are eliminated.
Despite this warning, HTS and its allies appear to be determined to create tensions in Greater Idlib in order to sabotage the Turkish-Syrian normalization talks which are sponsored by Russia and Iran. The militants fear that a deal between Ankara and Damascus could lead to a Turkish military withdrawal from their region.
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