Al-Qaeda militants attack Christian town in north Hama, Syrian Army repels them
YemenExtra
M.A.
Overnight, violent firefights erupted in the northern countryside of Hama as Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) attempted to infiltrate the town of Mahardeh by attacking adjacent checkpoints manned by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and National Defence Forces (NDF) at the nearby Thermal Plant.
With clashes lasting until Saturday morning, the SAA and NDF were capable of holding their ground and repel repeated HTS attacks on both the Abu Obaidah and Al-Shalweet checkpoints.
HTS, a jihadist group with ties to Al-Qaeda, then started shelling Mahardeh with mortar and missiles. Shells were still landing on the predominately Christian town as of Saturday afternoon.
In response, the Russian Air Force carried out airstrikes over suspected HTS positions in Lataminah as missiles were spotted coming from this rebel stronghold towards Mahardeh.
Russian military police are known to be deployed inside Mahardeh; effectively, the renewed HTS shelling represents danger to their safety.