BEIRUT/MOSCOW: Rebels and militants traded fire with government forces in northern Syria overnight, their “fiercest” exchanges since a buffer zone deal was announced for the area last month, an activist group said Thursday.
A 15-20-kilometer-wide “demilitarized zone” was announced by rebel backer Turkey and Syrian ally Moscow on Sept. 17 to separate regime troops from rebel fighters in their last major bastion in Idlib province and adjacent areas.
Shelling has continued intermittently, however, and escalated dramatically late Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Rebel shelling from inside the zone killed three civilians in regime-held territory earlier this week.
Late Wednesday, rocket fire by both militants and Turkish-backed rebels hit second city Aleppo, wounding 10 people, said Rami Abdel-Rahman, who heads the Britain-based observatory.
The National Liberation Front, the Turkish-backed rebel alliance which is the main armed group in that area, said it was responding to regime violations of the truce deal with “light and medium weapons.”
Under the deal agreed by Russia and Turkey, the rebels were supposed to have removed all heavy weapons from the zone by Oct. 10.