Syrian regime forces again bombed the country’s northwest on Monday evening, after rebels killed a regime soldier during fighting in Idleb province, according to one activist.
The regime fighter was killed in the al-Bureij village area in the governorate’s southeast, the site of a massacre a week earlier.
This comes as the regime fired artillery and missiles at several areas, causing damage to civilian property, activist Mustafa al-Mohammed told The New Arab’s Arabic sister service, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
The Maarat al-Naasan junction is located at the site where regime shelling killed four schoolchildren and wounded others last week.
Mohammed said warplanes and reconnaissance aircraft of key Syrian regime ally Russia are continuing to fly over Idleb several times a day.
Even when the aircraft does not drop bombs their overflights cause terror among residents used to years of Russian and regime airstrikes.
Idleb has suffered continuous and indiscriminate bombardments by the regime and Russian forces since it was captured by rebels in 2015 and prior to this.
Much of the rebel-held province is controlled by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, a hardline Islamist group accused of numerous rights violations.
Elsewhere in Syria, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the international coalition carried out joint exercises simulating fighting with the Islamic State (ISIS) group in the Deir-ez-Zor province.
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Repeated loud explosions were heard near the village of Maizila, where fighters practiced assaulting ISIS positions and fending off attacks on the SDF and coalition joint bases.
In Homs province in Syria’s southwest, Russia and the regime military’s construction firm started building helipads, according to local sources.
These are being constructed in the al-Sawwana field, where phosphate is produced.
With Russian air support, the Syrian regime has recently been conducting sweeps of Homs province for ISIS cells.
The pro-regime al-Watan newspaper claimed these raids had wiped out ISIS bases and inflicted serious casualties on the extremists.
Regime forces were hit by a surprise attack by ISIS late on Sunday in the al-Sukhnah area.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.