The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) repelled an attack by terrorists on Saraqib on Wednesday and in the early hours of Thursday. Saraqib is a city in northwestern Syria, located east of Idlib. The small city fell to terrorists in 2012 and was liberated by the SAA in 2020.
The SAA used artillery and missiles to halt the terrorists' advance near Saraqib. Five terrorists were killed and 20 others wounded in the attack. Three Al-Sham Corps members and a member of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham were killed when the SAA targeted their positions and outposts on the Saraqib frontline.
Reinforcements were sent from Idlib to clash with the SAA, which had destroyed three four-wheel drive vehicles used by the terrorists. Previously, the SAA went on high alert in the countryside of Hama and Idlib anticipating attacks. The terrorists also shelled Al-Kabbanah at Jabal Al-Akrad in the northern countryside of Latakia.
Saraqib, at the intersection of the M4 and M5 highways connecting Damascus to Aleppo and Latakia, is crucial for the safe passage of cars, trucks, and buses traveling from Latakia to Aleppo. If Saraqib is under attack from terrorists emanating from Idlib, civilians and cargo will be forced to take a circuitous route adding hours to the trip, as well as using extra gasoline, at a time when Syria is experiencing high gas prices and shortages.
Saraqib fell to terrorists following Radical Islam in November 2012. By 2013, the Al Qaeda affiliate Jibhat al-Nusra and ISIS were in control.
Some civilians protested the groups. "We began chanting, 'Saraqib is a civil state! We want a civil state!' and one of them assaulted one of us, threatening, 'We will attain our caliphate by force!' and then they stamped on the Free Syrian Army flag and went away."
In 2020, after eight years of terrorist occupation, the SAA liberated Saraqib by defeating Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the new name for Jibhat al-Nusra, the Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria. HTS rules Idlib with a Sharia Court and has set up an Islamic State in Idlib.
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