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On December 22, a unit of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) conducted a hit and run attack against the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) around the village of Kabani in the northern Lattakia countryside, according to Syrian oppositions sources. The sources claimed that over 20 soldiers and officers of the SAA were killed in the attack.
The HTS-linked news Iba’a Agency didn’t confirm yet that HTS was behind the attack. This means that other Islamist groups like the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) or even al-Qaeda could be behind the attack.
Syrian pro-government sources confirmed that Islamists fighters attacked a position of the SAA around Kabani. However, the sources said that only 3 SAA soldiers were killed and 5 were others injured in the attack.
Earlier, Syrian oppositions activists claimed that the SAA and the National Defense Forces (NDF) are massing their troops in the northern Lattakia countryside to launch an attack towards the strategic city of Jisr al-Shughur in the western Idlib countryside. However, such an attack is highly unlikely now as the SAA is already planning to launch an attack towards the southwestern Aleppo countryside.
