“De-escalation zone” in six days | 11 regime soldiers killed and wounded by HTS and opposition factions

Since early May, the “de-escalation zone” has experienced noticeable escalation of military operations between regime forces and their proxies on one hand, and Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and opposition factions on the other, including exchange of bombardment and attacks. These operations left five regime soldiers dead and six others injured.

 

Further details of the circumstances of the death and injury of those regime soldiers in “Putin-Erdogan” area in May can be summarised as follows:

 

• May 3: Two regime soldiers were killed and others were injured seriously, when rocket launchers of factions of “Al-Fath Amubin” operations room fired several missiles on regime headquarters on the frontline of Kafr Batikh in the south-east of Idlib. Meanwhile, regime forces were put on high alert and deployed troops on the same frontline.

 

• May 4: A regime soldier was seriously injured, after having been shot by a sniper of “Jaysh Al-Nasr” which operates under the banner of “Al-Fath Amubin” operations room on Sahl Al-Ghab frontline in the western countryside of Hama.

 

• May 6: Two regime soldiers were killed and three others sustained serious injuries in a suicidal operation by members of “Jaysh Al-Nasr” in regime positions on the frontline of Al-Amiqah village in Sahl AL-Ghab area in the western countryside of Hama.

 

• May 6: A regime soldier was killed and two other were injured by snipers of factions of “Al-Fath Al-Mubin” operations room on the frontline of Al-Burayj in the southern countryside of Idlib. Meanwhile, regime forces were put on high alert.

 

Also, regime forces have considerably escalated their bombardment on different towns and villages in Aleppo, Idlib, Hama and Latakia countryside, targeting positions in nearly 20 towns and villages, including the following towns and villages:

 

• Idlib countryside: Fulayfel, Maarbalit, Maarrat Al-Na’san, Maarrat Alya, Majdaliyah, Al-Faterah, Sfuhen, Kansafra, Al-Bara and Bayanin.

 

• Hama countryside: Al-Ankawi, Kherbet Al-Naqous, Al-Mansourah, Al-Sarmaniyah, Duwayr Al-Akrad, Al-Mashyak, Qulaydeen and Al-Qarqour in Sahl Al-Ghab area in the western countryside.

 

• Latakia countryside: Al-Kabanah village.

 

A prominent event also took place in May in the “de-escalation zone,” precisely on May 3, when the US Central Command announced the targeting of a prominent ISIS leader by an airstrike in an area in Idlib countryside in north western Syria. The US Central Command did not reveal any further information regarding the identity of that leader.

 

According to reliable SOHR sources, the targeted person was a 60-year-old man called “Lotfy Hassan Masto,” and he was herding sheep in a farmland near Qorqanya village in Idlib countryside when he was attacked, while residents of the village reported that he did not belong to any military factions.