Terrorists kill three Syrians in Idlib despite ceasefire
Militants fighting against the Syrian government have killed at least three people in the countryside of Syria’s northwestern city of Idlib despite the announcement of a ceasefire there.
According to media outlets on Wednesday, Takfiri militants fired rockets on the areas of Fuaa and Kafraya, where a ceasefire had reportedly been announced earlier in the day between the Syrian army as well as Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah on the one hand and militants allied to the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front on the other hand, killing the Syrian civilians.
Dozens of people also sustained injuries in the attack, reports said.
It is not known in which of the two areas the civilians were killed. In addition, no specific militant group has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, yet.
According to Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV, the ceasefire took effect at 03:00GMT on Wednesday in the border town of Zabadani, near the Lebanese border, and in Fuaa and Kafraya in Idlib Province.
“A ceasefire began at 6am today for 48 hours to halt military operations in Zabadani,” al-Manar reported, saying, “It also includes the two villages of al-Fuaa and Kafraya in the Idlib countryside.”
The development comes as Syria’s official news agency SANA said Tuesday that Syrian forces and Hezbollah fighters had made fresh advances north and east of Zabadani, seizing control of at least 11 building blocks from Takfiri militants.
According to sources close to the resistance movement, about a dozen major militants, most of them with the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, have also surrendered to Hezbollah.
Syrian forces and Hezbollah fighters have started since more than six weeks ago a joint operation to liberate Zabadani, a strategic town in Syria’s Rif Dimashq Province and located just 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the capital, Damascus. The city has been used by the militants over the past years for transferring forces and weapons into Syria. The allied forces have recaptured major parts of the city, including its main street.
Syria has been fighting against massive foreign-sponsored militancy since early 2011. The conflict has reportedly killed an estimated 240,000 people so far, including nearly 12,000 children.
