DAMASCUS, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army on Monday foiled a rebel attack on military sites in the northern countryside of Hama province in central Syria amid a faltering truce in that area, according to the state news agency SANA.
The report said the Syrian army dealt precise strikes on the rebel positions in the northern countryside of Hama, inflicting a hefty toll on the rebels of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the umbrella group of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.
SANA said the army in northern Hama got engaged in heavy battles with the HTS, which attacked safe areas in the vicinity of Hamamyat area.
This comes as the army and the rebels of HTS are fighting in the countryside of Latakia, and nearby areas in the countryside of Hama and Idlib provinces in northwestern Syria.
On Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor group said that a brief truce went into effect in the aforementioned areas. However, battles continued.
The army is fighting to defeat the HTS in their last major strongholds in northwestern Syria.
Such areas are included in a de-escalation zones' deal established in September 2018 by Russia and Turkey.
But the deal didn't materialize and battles escalated since late last month.
Meanwhile, the pro-government al-Watan newspaper said Monday that the army abided by the 72-hour truce, which was mediated by Russia and Turkey, but it had to respond to the rebels' violations.
The report said that the Turkish side is expected to call for an extension of the truce, which ends by midnight Tuesday.
In exchange, the Turkish side would pressure the HTS to abide by the de-escalation zones' deal of last year.
The deal was supposed to see the evacuation of the HTS from key areas in the designated de-escalation zone, which includes areas in Idlib, Hama and the eastern countryside of Latakia.
However, the HTS expanded and took over areas in the aforementioned places that had previously been controlled by less radical rebel groups.
One of the key withdrawals should be from areas around the main road connecting Idlib with Aleppo province as such road is a part of the International Road connecting Damascus in the south with Aleppo in the north.
The opposition activists of the observatory said that battles flared in Idlib, Hama and Latakia countryside since late last month coupled with airstrikes by Syria and Russia on the HTS positions.
It is worth noting that Russia is negotiating on behalf of the Syrian government while Turkish is negotiating for the rebels in Idlib and surrounding areas, which are regarded as the last major rebel strongholds in the country.
