(Adnkronos) – The death toll from clashes in Aleppo province in northern Syria between Damascus military and jihadists has risen to 57. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 26 Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al Qaeda’s Syrian branch) militants and 31 soldiers were among the dead. According to the London-based NGO, the clashes broke out after the jihadists, along with some allied groups, launched an attack on the military, who also called in the Air Force, flanked by Russian fighters.
As reported to Syrian TV by Colonel Hassan Abdel Ghani, spokesperson for the ongoing operations, the rebel forces – HTS and other anti-government factions that have their stronghold in Idlib – managed to take control of various strategic points in the rural areas near Aleppo, such as Darat Izza, Atarib and Qabtan al Yabal. The Observatory claims that the jihadists are only about ten kilometers from the city. The large-scale attack conducted in the last few hours is the most massive since four years ago Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the ceasefire in Idlib province.
