Russian airstrikes target Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Syria
The al-Qaeda offshoot is focused on defending its territory from Russian-backed Syrian government forces, but it has also clashed with the Islamic State recently.
Several members of the Syrian militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham were killed in Russian airstrikes early Monday morning.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that eight HTS members died and several others were injured as a result of Russian strikes in Kurin, located in northwest Syria’s Idlib province. The aerial attacks targeted a military facility belonging to the group and the death toll is likely to rise, according to the Observatory.
Agence France-Presse reported that the airstrikes occurred shortly after midnight local time and that HTS cordoned off the area.
Background: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham controls large parts of Idlib province, which is a rebel stronghold. The group formed in 2017 with the merger of several Syrian Islamist rebel groups. HTS has its origins in the now-defunct al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra.
