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On December 22, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) artillery shelled positions of militants in the towns of al-Lataminah and Hasraiyah in the northern Hama countryside in response to new violations of the Russian-Turkish demilitarized zone agreement, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
The state-run agency said that the militants attempted to launch attacks from al-Lataminah and Hasraiyah on residential areas in the government-held part of the northern Hama countryside.
“The strikes infected heavy losses on the terrorist’s personnel and equipment,” the SANA’s reporter in Hama said.
A day earlier, the SAA artillery pounded nine militants-held towns in the northern Hama countryside and the southern Idlib countryside. The shelling was also a response to violations by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) and the Turkish-backed Jaysh al-Izza.
Under the Russian-Turkish agreement, the militants are not allowed to deployed heavy weapons or carry out any attacks in the demilitarized zone around the governorate of Idlib. However, Turkey is yet to pressure the militants into respecting the agreement.
