Syria launches small-scale attacks, putting pressure on Türkiye

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) continued to launch attacks on the edge of Idlib and Northern Hama provinces on September 15 and 16 in response to the Turkish military buildup at the border, al-Masdar News reported.

According to a military source in Idlib, the SAA and its allies from the local armed forces attacked the rebel defense positions in the towns of Al-Lataminah, Zakat and Kafr Zita in Northern Hama.

The Syrian army then expanded the attack to the border area of ​​Idlib province, targeting Khan Sheikhoun province as the next target.

Following these attacks, the Syrian army fired several missiles towards the defensive trenches dug by the rebels in the towns of Taman'ah and Sukeek.

Syrian state television (SANA) reported that on Sunday, the SAA Army destroyed a large number of jihadist gunmen in Idlib and Hama in the southwestern area of ​​Jisr Al-Shughour district. This is one of the strategic fronts of the Government army in the plan of a large-scale attack on the terrorist stronghold.

The strikes killed one of the top snipers of Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham - the main terrorist force in Idlib - Iyad Kasar Ramoud.

The unilateral attacks from the Syrian Government army have temporarily not been supported by the Air Force in response to the plan to continuously increase troops from Türkiye, avoiding a large-scale and bloody attack on Idlib when rebels and terrorists are aggressive, ready to use Syrian civilians as human shields.

Türkiye has also warned that the Syrian army has reached an agreement with the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) - a US-backed force that Ankara considers terrorists - to jointly attack Idlib.

However, in a latest statement from the YPG, it affirmed that this force will not participate in a large-scale attack in Syria's Idlib province.

"The probability of a military operation in Idlib is increasing, some media outlets claim that our forces are involved in this operation. This kind of accusation is speculative and far from the truth," the statement from the force's press office said.

The statement also confirmed that the main Kurdish force is to destroy the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in eastern Syria and not to get involved in the situation in northwestern Syria. At the same time, the Kurdish forces will also attack the Turkish-backed groups that are currently trying to establish a presence in the Afrin region.

"We assure the public that our forces are continuing the difficult struggle against the IS terrorist organization and are determined to eradicate them in northeastern Syria.

"We continue our legitimate struggle against the Turkish invaders, claiming that their presence in Afrin is legitimate, as well as against the IS terrorists, supported by Türkiye. This means that we confirm that there is no presence in Idlib," the statement said.