(Zaman Al Wasl)- Powerful Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance on Friday have launched new major attack on regime forces in Hama province, two days after Damascus declared that the central province is free of the Islamic State.
The attack took place in the pro-regime village of Abu Dali which considered as the main crossing to the rebel-held province of Idlib, which is largely controlled by Tahrir al-Sham.
On September 19, five rebel groups led by the formerly known as Nusra Front launched a large attack on regime-held areas in Hama. The biggest offensive in that area since March, and underlines the complications facing Russian-led diplomatic efforts to preserve ceasefires in western Syria.
In retaliation, the regime warplanes have pounded a local marketplace in the nearby town of Khan Sheikhoun on Friday, killing 7 people killed.
In eastern Hama, Islamic State fighters shot down a Russian helicopter on Thursday, sources said.
The Ka-52 Alligator was shot down near the strategic town of Uqayribat while the ISIS fighters were withdrawing from their last stronghold in eastern Hama area.
The three-member crew might have been killed, according to the source.
Last Wednesday, the regime army and allied fighters drove ISIS from their last positions east of Hama on Wednesday after heavy fighting, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
ISIS was no longer present anywhere in the province for the first time in three years, , the Britain-based monitor added.
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