Illustrative image, by the SANA
On December 9, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) foiled three attempts by radical militants to infiltrate into its positions around the towns of Suran and Mahardah in the northern Hama countryside, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) responded to these new violations of the Russian-Turkish demilitarized zone agreement by shelling the militants’ positions in the towns of al-Lataminah, Maarkaba, Murak and Tell Saker. Several militants were reportedly killed and injured as a result.
A day earlier, Turkish-backed attempted to launch similar attacks against the SAA from their positions inside the demilitarized zone. In response, the army bombed the militants’ positions with an armed drone for the first time.
According to local observers, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), al-Qaeda-affiliated Horas al-Din, Jaysh al-Izza and the Turkish-backed National Front for Liberation (NFL) are responsible for the repeated violations of the demilitarized zone agreement. Turkey is yet to implement its commitments and force these radical groups to respect the agreement or neutralize them.
