Late on September 23, a main battle tank of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) was damaged on the Greater Idlib front as a result of an attack by al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
The tank, which was deployed at a military position near the town of Hazarin in the southern Idlib countryside, was targeted with an anti-tank guided missile. HTS’s media wing, Amjad, released footage of the attack, which didn’t result in any casualties.
The attack was the latest in a series of violations of the ceasefire agreement on the Greater Idlib region by HTS and its allies.
The recent violations included a tunnel bombing in the southern Idlib countryside on August 26 that claimed the lives of at least 11 soldiers and a raid in the northern countryside of Lattakia on September 15 that left an officer and three soldiers dead.
Earlier this month, a series of Syria and Russian retaliatory strikes targeted Greater Idlib. Some 111 militants were killed and at least 80 others were wounded in the strikes. Nevertheless, HTS and its allies remain undeterred.
Despite the recent escalation, the SAA and its allies will not likely launch a ground operation in Greater Idlib any time in the near future due to the objection of Turkey who maintains a large force there. Another round of strikes could however hit the region very soon.
MORE ON THIS TOPIC:
it appears that the ‘hato’ sponsors of terror have re-armed their terror proxies.