(Zaman Al Wasl)- About 23 regime troops were killed and wounded Friday in a surprise attack by rebels near the planned buffer zone in the northwestern province of Hama.
The attack targeted three checkpoints for regime army forces near the village of Forrow in the Ghap Plain in the western countryside of Hama.
The de-militarized zone in Idlib province and parts of Hama was announced by rebel backer Ankara and Damascus ally Moscow in September to separate regime troops from rebel fighters in Idlib and adjacent areas.
Under the deal, the rebels were supposed to have removed all heavy weapons from the buffer zone by Oct. 10 but skirmishes have continued to pit regime forces against militants and other insurgents on the ground.
Rebel factions have said they withdrew their heavy weapons from the zone but HTS and other hardline groups have refused to pull out their fighters.
Last week, Hayat Tharir al-Sham, an alliance led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda branch which is the dominant force in Idlib, killed at least eight regime troops in the north of Hama province.
The deadly militant assault came hours after regime troops killed 23 fighters of a formerly U.S.-backed Jaish al-Izza group. The regime forces pushed into the stronghold of Jaish al-Izaa near the town of al-Latameh.
In retaliation, rebels wounded 9 regime army troops in rocket attack on Joureen military camp, local activists said.
Also in the northern countryside of Hama, several troops were killed and wounded by a landmine near the town of Bredeeg, local reporter said Monday.
Meanwhile, Tahrir al-Sham is on alert amid concerns of imminent offensive on northern Idlib province following violations for the Russian -brokered buffer zone agreement, sources said.
All the formations and units of Tahrir al-Sham have been mobilizing units.
A statement issued by Tahrir al-Sham accused the regime forces of breaching the deal through unprecedented attacks on the northern countryside of Hama and Idlib province that left casualties, including 10 civilians.
Idlib and some adjacent areas are the last major rebel bastion in Syria, where the Russian-backed regime has in recent months retaken much of the territory it had lost since the civil war erupted.
It had threatened an assault on rebel territory around Idlib, which is home to some three million people, but the truce deal struck by Russia and Turkey averted it.
Aid organizations had warned that a fully-fledged offensive on Idlib could spark the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the civil war so far.
More than 470,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the conflict erupted with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011.
Zaman Al Wasl
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