Tahrir al-Sham, rebels agree to end fighting in northern Aleppo: sources

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Militant Tayat Tahrir al-Sham group has agreed to end fighting with the National Liberation Front after five days if clashes in northern Aleppo province, sources told Zaman al-Wasl Saturday.

With participation of rebel factions operating in northern Syria, the former al-Qaeda branch agreed on an immediate ceasefire.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a militant-led alliance, seized more than 20 villages from rival rebels in the northern province of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The fighting has killed more than 100 fighters, according to the observatory.

"HTS was able to take control of areas previously held by Nour al-din al-Zinki in the west of the Aleppo countryside," the Britain-based activist group said.

Those areas lie in the northeast of Syria's last major rebel bastion, which includes a large part of Idlib province as well as adjacent parts of Aleppo and Hama provinces.

Atareb town came under heavy bombardment by Tahrir al-Sham on Saturday, in a scene recalled the brutal bombing of the Assad army on civil areas, activists said.

Observers say Tahrir al-Sham takes the attack policy as the only way to defend its existence as regional powers agree to uproot militant groups from northern Syria.

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زمان الوصل-خاص: سجلت عدسة زمان الوصل، قبل قليل صوت القصف الشديد عل بلدة #الأتارب بريف #حلب ، من قبل #هيئة_تحرير_الشام في محاولة عنيفة للسيطرة عليها... pic.twitter.com/uGV3akDAa6
— زمان الوصل (@zamanalwsl) January 5, 2019

The clashes broke out after HTS, which is led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, on Monday accused Nour al-din al-Zinki, key unit in National Front, of killing five of its fighters.

Fighting flared on Tuesday in the northern province of Aleppo before expanding to the neighboring provinces of Idlib and Hama in the following days.

Friday's fighting brought the death toll to 58 HTS fighters, 56 rebels, and eight civilians in four days, the Observatory said.

Over the past two years, HTS has regularly fought a rival alliance of rebels called the National Liberation Front, which includes Nour al-din al-Zinki, for territory in and around Idlib province.

Since September, a buffer zone deal between rebel backer Turkey and government ally Russia has shielded the Idlib region from a massive regime offensive.

Since the revolution erupted in 2011, more than 560,000 people have been killed, and more than 6 million people have been displaced.

Zaman Al Wasl