...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...(HTS, formerly al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
Front) announced on Sunday the death of ten Syrian government soldiers in the Latakia countryside.
HTS launched, for the first time in about a month, a limited operation against government forces positions in the village of al-Rabiaa, behind contact lines in the northern countryside of Latakia, northwest Syria.
The operation resulted in the death of ten government soldiers, and the destruction of three 152-caliber cannons and ammunition, according to the HTS-affiliated Amjad Agency.
The agency added that the operation did not result in any casualties among the ranks of HTS. State outlets did not report any injuries or deaths among government forces so far.
This HTS attack is the first of its kind since the earthquake hit southern
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
and north Syria on February 6. The attack occurred despite calls by the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
to cease military operations and focus on delivering aid to quake-affected people.