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In the late hours of June 28, a special forces unit of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) carried out a hit and run attack on a positon of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) near the town of Tell Ottoman in the northern Hama countryside.
The terrorist group’s news agency, Iba’a, claimed in a short press release that at least five Syrian service members were killed and two others were injured in the course of the attack.
HTS said that its “Red Bands” special forces unit carried out the attack. The unit, that’s reportedly made up of foreign fighters, was involved in several similar attacks over the last year.
The new attack came a few hours only after an advance attempt by the SAA in the same region. The army tried to recapture the towns of Jibeen and Tell Meleh. However, HTS and its allies defended their newly-established positions there with great efficiency.
HTS and its allies improved their situation around Idlib in a significant way recently. The repeated ceasefires and the SAA’s lack of organization are the main reasons behind the militants’ success.
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