MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd December, 2019) A hundred Syrian jihadists tried to storm the Idlib village of Qarratin al-Qabira over the weekend but was repelled by government forces, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Syria reconciliation center said Sunday.
"On December 21, a group of some 100 militants from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham [banned in Russia] tried to break through defenses of the Syrian government forces on the way to Qarratin al-Qabira," Maj.Gen. Yuri Burenkov said, adding artillery fire thwarted the attack and killed many militants.
The militants launched another attack several hours later north of the village of Sukayyat in the same region, the general said.
A suicide bomber on an explosives-laden armored vehicle attempted to ram government positions but was destroyed. Militants returned fire, which killed six government troops and left 13 others injured, Burenkov said.
