BEIRUT: Attacks by two jihadist groups killed at least 17 Syrian government troops and militiamen in the northern province of Aleppo early on Saturday, a war monitor said.

Thirty others were wounded in the assaults by Al-Qaeda's former Syria branch, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and its ally Hurras al-Deen, which remains affiliated to the global jihadist network, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The attacks in the southern and southwestern countryside of Aleppo province were launched shortly after midnight and triggered clashes that continued until dawn, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

He said the fighting subsided after Russian aircraft struck jihadist positions in the area, prompting the fighters to pull back.

Eight jihadists were killed, he added.

Russia aircraft also carried out strikes in neighbouring Hama province early on Saturday, killing five civilians, the Observatory said.

On Friday, Russian strikes killed 10 civilians in Idlib province, the hub of territory held by the jihadists of HTS in northwestern Syria.

Russia and rebel-backer Turkey in September inked a buffer zone deal to avert a massive government offensive on the Idlib region, but the deal has never been implemented.

The region of some three million people has come under increasing bombardment since HTS took full control of it in January.

The latest Russian air raids came after two days of talks on the Syrian conflict between Turkey, Russia and fellow government backer Iran in Kazakhstan earlier this week.

The three governments expressed concern over the growing power of HTS in Idlib and parts of adjacent provinces, and determination to cooperate to eliminate the jihadist group.

The civil war in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it began with the bloody repression of anti-government protests in 2011. </s> BEIRUT: Nearly 100 combatants were killed on Friday in clashes between fighters loyal to Syria’s government, rebels and Jihadists in northwestern Syria, a war monitor said.

Starting at dawn on Friday morning -- and after bombing by the regime -- fighting in northern Hama province killed 51 government loyalists and allied militiamen, and 45 among the rebels and Jihadists, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The clashes continued in the afternoon, the Britain-based Observatory said. Backed by its ally Moscow, Damascus has since late April intensified bombardment of much of Idlib province and the parts of neighbouring Hama, Aleppo and Latakia where Syria’s former Al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) holds sway.

Fighting has meanwhile taken place on the ground in parts of these anti-regime areas, particularly in northern Hama. Syria’s official Sana news agency also reported bombardment on Friday.

"Units of the army today carried out massive bombing at dawn.... on positions of the terrorist Al-Nusra Front in (and) around the villages of Jibine and Tal Maleh," Sana said, referring to positions held by HTS.

The bombardment led to "the destruction of the terrorists’ fortifications and their lines of defence", it added. They took place in response to attacks against the villages and cities in Hama, the news agency said.

Idlib and parts of neighbouring Hama, Aleppo and Latakia provinces were supposed to be protected by a buffer zone under an September agreement between Russia and Turkey. But the region has come under increased bombardment by the regime and its Russian ally since HTS seized most of Idlib at the start of the year.

The Turkish defence ministry said on Friday a Turkish soldier was killed and three others were wounded the day before by fire from Syrian government forces against a Turkish observation post in Idlib province. </s> BEIRUT — An explosion outside an office belonging to an al Qaeda-linked group in the country’s northwestern on Friday killed at least 11 people and wounded several others, opposition activists said.

The blast comes a week after members of the al Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Arabic for Levant Liberation Committee, or HTS, took over control of wide parts of Idlib province and the surrounding countryside after forcing rival insurgents to accept a deal for a civil administration run by HTS in their areas.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Smart news agency, an activist collective, said the blast occurred on the southern edge of the rebel-held city of Idlib.

The Observatory said 11 people were killed in the blast, including seven HTS members. Smart said 12 people were killed, many of them militants.

In the country’s east, an air strike in the last area held by the Islamic State killed at least 20 people in the village of Baghouz, according to the state news agency SANA. The Observatory said 23 people were killed including 10 Islamic State members.

They both blamed the U.S.-led coalition that has been providing air cover to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in their months-long offensive to capture the area from extremists near the Iraqi border.

Meanwhile in Turkey, President Tayyip Erdogan met with U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to discuss the situation in Syria as the United States prepares to withdraw troops.

Graham, a prominent voice on foreign affairs in the U.S., met with Erdogan and other Turkish officials Friday for talks that were also expected to include a proposal for the creation of a “safe zone” in northeast Syria.

The visit comes days after a suicide bombing, claimed by Islamic State, killed two U.S. service members and two American civilians in the northeastern town of Manbij.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militants assault several Syrian Army positions in the northern Aleppo Governorate, killing 17 soldiers and wounding 30 others. HTS say the attacks were in response to recent Syrian government and Russian airstrikes on rebel-held areas.