Syria Army Deals Hard Blow to Terrorists in Hama

Syrian troops on Friday killed dozens of militants on the outskirts of al-Lahaya, Morik, Kafar Zita, Tal Othman and Tal al-Sakhr in Hama, SANA news agency reported.

The clashes took place on the edge of the northwestern Idlib province as the militants attempted to move towards Syrian military points in Hama northern countryside.

In Idlib, the army units thwarted an infiltration attempt by terrorists from al-Habeet town towards the liberated areas in the southeastern countryside of the province, the report added.

The areas are located in a planned buffer zone, which surrounds Idlib and also parts of the adjacent provinces of Aleppo and Hama.

Under a deal reached following a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in September, all militants must have withdrawn from the demilitarization zone by October 15.

However, the al-Qaeda-linked Takfiri terrorists said they refuse to either leave the buffer zone or hand over their weapons.

Moscow believed that the 15-20 kilometer buffer zone would help stop attacks from Idlib-based militants on Syrian army positions and Russia's military bases in the flashpoint region.

Idlib and some surrounding areas are the last major bastions of Takfiri terrorists and anti-government militants in Syria, where the Syrian government has in recent months retaken much of the territory it had lost since the conflict erupted in the country in 2011.

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