BEIRUT: Rebels killed at least 11 soldiers in northwestern Syria on Saturday when they detonated explosives placed in tunnels dug underneath army positions before attacking them, a monitor said.

The attack involving militants from the Ansar al-Tawhid group and the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) took place in the south of Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The jihadists “detonated tunnels they had dug beneath army positions and simultaneously launched an assault from other tunnels”, said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Observatory.

The attack, which also wounded 20 soldiers, came as Syria and its main military ally Russia bombarded the mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area of Idlib province, the Observatory said, without immediately reporting any casualties.

The White Helmets volunteer emergency service said that two children — a brother and sister — were killed and five other civilians wounded when their home in the village of Kansafra was hit.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2023