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On February 9, al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the de-facto ruler of the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib, resumed its attacks on the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) after a short halt that was forced by the recent Turkish-Syrian earthquake.
The terrorist group’s snipers targeted two soldiers of the SAA near the town of Kabani in the northern countryside of Lattakia, one of several Syrian governorates which were badly affected by the February 6 earthquake.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that both soldiers were killed. However, this is yet to be confirmed.
The SAA responded to the attack, which was a violation of the ceasefire in Greater Idlib, by shelling several positions of HTS in the Turkmen Mount in the northern Lattakia countryside and near the towns of Benin and Fleifel in the southern countryside of Lattakia.
HTS’s attempt to escalate amid ongoing rescue operations within Greater Idlib and in nearby government-held areas reflects its disregard for humanitarian considerations. Around 4,000 were killed in Syria and more than 16,000 others in Turkey as a result of the earthquake.
In the last few months, the terrorist group launched dozens of attacks, including raids, rocket and drone strikes, from Greater Idlib to sabotage ongoing Russian efforts to restore ties between Ankara, who maintains forces in the region, and Damascus.
