Dozens killed in fighting among jihadists in Syria

BEIRUT, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Dozens of fighters have been killed in two days of fighting between rival jihadist factions in northwestern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Tuesday.

The fighting has pitted a jihadist group seen as ideologically close to Islamic State - Jund al-Aqsa - against a newly formed jihadist alliance spearheaded by a faction that was once al Qaeda's official affiliate in the war.

The jihadist alliance - Tahrir al-Sham - has captured at least six villages from Jund al-Aqsa since Monday, the Observatory reported. Their power struggle is focused in northern areas of Hama province and adjoining areas of Idlib.

Tahrir al-Sham was formed last month from an alliance of factions including Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, known as the Nusra Front until it formally severed ties with al Qaeda last year.

The Observatory said the death toll on both sides so far stood at 69. (Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Gareth Jones) </s> BEIRUT: Nearly 100 combatants were killed on Friday in clashes between fighters loyal to Syria’s government, rebels and Jihadists in northwestern Syria, a war monitor said.

Starting at dawn on Friday morning -- and after bombing by the regime -- fighting in northern Hama province killed 51 government loyalists and allied militiamen, and 45 among the rebels and Jihadists, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The clashes continued in the afternoon, the Britain-based Observatory said. Backed by its ally Moscow, Damascus has since late April intensified bombardment of much of Idlib province and the parts of neighbouring Hama, Aleppo and Latakia where Syria’s former Al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) holds sway.

Fighting has meanwhile taken place on the ground in parts of these anti-regime areas, particularly in northern Hama. Syria’s official Sana news agency also reported bombardment on Friday.

"Units of the army today carried out massive bombing at dawn.... on positions of the terrorist Al-Nusra Front in (and) around the villages of Jibine and Tal Maleh," Sana said, referring to positions held by HTS.

The bombardment led to "the destruction of the terrorists’ fortifications and their lines of defence", it added. They took place in response to attacks against the villages and cities in Hama, the news agency said.

Idlib and parts of neighbouring Hama, Aleppo and Latakia provinces were supposed to be protected by a buffer zone under an September agreement between Russia and Turkey. But the region has come under increased bombardment by the regime and its Russian ally since HTS seized most of Idlib at the start of the year.

The Turkish defence ministry said on Friday a Turkish soldier was killed and three others were wounded the day before by fire from Syrian government forces against a Turkish observation post in Idlib province. </s> BEIRUT: Attacks by two jihadist groups killed at least 17 Syrian government troops and militiamen in the northern province of Aleppo early on Saturday, a war monitor said.

Thirty others were wounded in the assaults by Al-Qaeda's former Syria branch, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and its ally Hurras al-Deen, which remains affiliated to the global jihadist network, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The attacks in the southern and southwestern countryside of Aleppo province were launched shortly after midnight and triggered clashes that continued until dawn, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

He said the fighting subsided after Russian aircraft struck jihadist positions in the area, prompting the fighters to pull back.

Eight jihadists were killed, he added.

Russia aircraft also carried out strikes in neighbouring Hama province early on Saturday, killing five civilians, the Observatory said.

On Friday, Russian strikes killed 10 civilians in Idlib province, the hub of territory held by the jihadists of HTS in northwestern Syria.

Russia and rebel-backer Turkey in September inked a buffer zone deal to avert a massive government offensive on the Idlib region, but the deal has never been implemented.

The region of some three million people has come under increasing bombardment since HTS took full control of it in January.

The latest Russian air raids came after two days of talks on the Syrian conflict between Turkey, Russia and fellow government backer Iran in Kazakhstan earlier this week.

The three governments expressed concern over the growing power of HTS in Idlib and parts of adjacent provinces, and determination to cooperate to eliminate the jihadist group.

The civil war in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it began with the bloody repression of anti-government protests in 2011. </s> Nearly 70 fighters from two formerly allied jihadist groups have been killed during infighting over the past 24 hours in northern Syria, a monitor said on Tuesday.

The clashes between former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham and the hardline jihadist Jund al-Aqsa faction erupted on Monday morning, after tensions over influence in the northwestern province of Idlib.

The fighting reflects the growing strained relations between different factions in Idlib province that once fought alongside either other against President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the clashes erupted after Jund al-Aqsa carried out a suicide bomb attack against a Fateh al-Sham headquarters in Idlib, killing nine people.

The toll has now risen to 69 dead from both sides in heavy clashes as well as executions, with the fighting spreading to the neighbouring province of Hama.

"There are battles between warlords, it's a war for influence," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Jund al-Aqsa is reviled by most rebels in the region, and is designed a "terrorist group" by Washington.

Despite that, in October Fateh al-Sham announced it had taken Jund al-Aqsa under its wing, although clashes between the two groups erupted shortly afterwards.

In January, Fateh al-Sham also battled other rebel groups in Idlib during 10 days of clashes that killed dozens of fighters.

Idlib province is held almost entirely by opposition factions, and was captured by an alliance of fighters dubbed the Army of Conquest, led by Fateh al-Sham.

More than 310,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

The war has become a complex multi-front conflict, drawing in jihadist groups and international armies. </s> Around 100 soldiers lost their life in North-west Syria in the fight between the pro-Syrian government army and rebels. This was revelaed by the monitoring agency. The England based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that the fighting in the northern Hama province has killed 51 pro-government soldiers and 45 rebels.

The Syrian government which is supported by Russia has intensified the attack and air strikes against the rebels and jihadists fighting against the Bashar Al Assad’s regime. The Syrian government has intensified its attacks in Idlib province and the parts of neighbouring Hama, Aleppo and Latakia where Syria’s former Al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

According to the Observatory, since April of this year around 490 civilians were killed in the air strikes. Apart from thisaround 682 pro-government forces and 812 rebellions killed in the fighting. The civil war in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011. </s> Moscow: Two Russian soldiers have been killed by artillery fire from the Islamic State group in Syria's eastern province of Deir Ezzor, where the army is battling jihadists, Russia's defence ministry said on Monday.

One serviceman was killed instantly and a second died from his wounds in hospital, according to a ministry statement quoted by Russian news agencies.

The soldiers were travelling with a convoy that was hit by "mortar fire from Islamic State terrorists", according to the ministry.

Moscow announced earlier on Monday that it was providing support to Syrian government forces in their push to take Deir Ezzor, one of the last remaining cities controlled by the jihadists.

Russia intervened in Syria's six-year-old civil war in September 2015 on the side of President Bashar al-Assad's government, and has conducted thousands of air strikes against targets it labels as "terrorists".

It also has a troop presence on the ground and the two soldiers reported killed on Monday bring to 34 the number of Russian service personnel killed in Syria, according to defence ministry figures. </s> Syria's war has killed just over 320,000 people since it erupted six years ago, a monitor said Monday, noting that a fragile ceasefire had helped to slow the rising death toll.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had recorded the deaths of 321,358 people since the conflict broke out in March 2011 with protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

The toll represented an increase of about 9,000 since December, when government ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey brokered a nationwide cessation of hostilities.

"There have been fewer people dying in the three months since the ceasefire was put into place," said Observatory Rami Abdel Rahman.

"The deaths haven't stopped, but they have been slower in the past few months," he said.

The new toll included more than 96,000 civilians, among them over 17,400 children and nearly 11,000 women.

The Observatory said just over 60,900 government soldiers were killed, as well as 45,000 Syrian militiamen and over 8,000 foreign fighters loyal to Assad's government.

Fighting also killed nearly 55,000 rebels and just as many jihadist fighters, most of them from the Islamic State group or former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front, but also from smaller groups.

Abdel Rahman told AFP that his team had worked hard to verify the identities of 4,000 victims whose identities had been unknown.

"Most were civilians, but there were approximately 300 rebel fighters among them," he said.

While Syria's conflict began with anti-Assad demonstrations, a violent crackdown by the government morphed it into a war that has drawn in international powers and seen the rise of jihadist groups. </s> An explosion at a weapons depot in a rebel-held town in northwest Syria killed at least 39 civilians including a dozen children Sunday, a monitor said.

The explosion happened in the town of Sarmada, which is near the Turkish border and north of the provincial capital Idlib city.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, said a previous death toll of 12 increased after more bodies were retrieved from the rubble.

But the cause of the blast was "not yet clear", Mr Abdel Rahman added.

He said most of those killed were family members of fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an alliance led by jihadists from Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, who had been displaced to the area from the central province of Homs.

A civil defence source told AFP news agency that women and children were among the dead. But rescue workers had pulled out "five people who were still alive", the source said. </s> Smoke and fire rise following reported Syrian government forces' bombardment on the town of Khan Sheikhun in the southern countryside of Idlib province, on June 6, 2019

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Beirut (AFP)

Nearly 100 combatants were killed on Friday in clashes between fighters loyal to Syria's government, rebels and jihadists in northwestern Syria, a war monitor said.

Starting at dawn on Friday morning -- and after bombing by the regime -- fighting in northern Hama province killed 51 government loyalists and allied militiamen, and 45 among the rebels and jihadists, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The clashes continued in the afternoon, the Britain-based Observatory said.

Backed by its ally Moscow, Damascus has since late April intensified bombardment of much of Idlib province and the parts of neighbouring Hama, Aleppo and Latakia where Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) holds sway.

Fighting has meanwhile taken place on the ground in parts of these anti-regime areas, particularly in northern Hama.

Syria's official SANA news agency also reported bombardment on Friday.

"Units of the army today carried out massive bombing at dawn.... on positions of the terrorist Al-Nusra Front in (and) around the villages of Jibine and Tal Maleh," SANA said, referring to positions held by HTS.

The bombardment led to "the destruction of the terrorists' fortifications and their lines of defence", it added.

They took place in response to attacks against the villages and cities in Hama, the news agency said.

Idlib and parts of neighbouring Hama, Aleppo and Latakia provinces were supposed to be protected by a buffer zone under an September agreement between Russia and Turkey.

But the region has come under increased bombardment by the regime and its Russian ally since HTS seized most of Idlib at the start of the year.

The Turkish defence ministry said Friday a Turkish soldier was killed and three others were wounded the day before by fire from Syrian government forces against a Turkish observation post in Idlib province.

Since late April, air strikes have killed 490 civilians, according to the Observatory, while fighting has killed 682 pro-regime forces and 821 rebels and jihadists.

The flare-up has also displaced 330,000 others, according to the United Nations, sparking fears of one of the worst humanitarian disasters in Syria's eight-year war.

The conflict in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it erupted in 2011 with the brutal repression of protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

? 2019 AFP
Nearly 100 people are killed in clashes between the Syrian Army, rebels and jihadists in northwestern Syria. 51 government troops and allied militiamen, and 45 rebel fighters and jihadists are among the dead.