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The former branch of al-Qaeda in Syria, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), announced on November 10 that its special forces had attacked a position of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in the Turkman mount in the northern Lattakia countryside. The radical group claimed than ten Syrian soldiers were killed in the attack.
HTS and its news network Iba’a didn’t release additional information about the attack as they usually do. This allowed local observers to question the group’s claims.
Earlier, HTS claimed that its special forces had killed 18 personnel of the SAA and 7 Russian service members during an attack on an “operations room” in the northern Hama countryside. However, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) dismissed the group’s claims and said that the attack was a failure.
These attacks are a clear violation of the Russian-Turkish deconfliction agreement on the governorate of Idlib. Under the agreement, the opposition-held areas in northern Hama and northern Lattakia are considered to be a part of the demilitarized zone, where military operations are forbidden.
