Syrian Army Repels Attack In Northern Lattakia, Kills HTS Commander

On July 6, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) repelled an attack that was launched by al-Qaed-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) from the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib.

The attack targeted military positions located in the direction of Kabani town in the northern Latakia countryside, the Syrian Ministry of Defense said in a statement, adding that several militants were killed or wounded by the army.

SAA troops were able to capture the body of one of the militants who were killed during the failed attack. He was identified as Abu Rawaha Muhambel, a field commander of HTS’s Uthman ibn Affan Brigade.

The attack, which represents a blatant violation of the ceasefire in Greater Idlib, will likely trigger a fierce response from the SAA and its allies.

Earlier this week, the SAA launched a series of artillery strikes against positions of HTS and its allies in the western Aleppo countryside in response to a mortar attack that killed a family of four in a government-held town. The strikes claimed the life of a commander of the Sham Legion, a Turkish-backed faction that is allied to HTS.

Militants in Greater Idlib escalated their attacks in recent months in an attempt to undermine the ceasefire, which was brokered by Russia and Turkey more than three years ago. The militants fear that the Turkish-Syrian normalization talks could end with a Turkish military withdrawal from the region and a new ground operation by the SAA and its allies.

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