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Militants Shell Towns in Syria's Idlib, Aleppo, Russian Military Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Militants from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham* terrorist group have attacked three settlements in the Syrian provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, Rear Admiral Alexander Shcherbitsky, the head of the Russian Defence Ministry's centre for Syrian reconciliation, said on Friday.
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"We have registered one attack on the settlement of Saqqarib and one attack on the settlement of Hanoutine in the Idlib province and one attack on the settlement of Abreh in the Aleppo province from the positions of Jabhat al-Nusra* terrorist organization", Shcherbitsky said.

He noted that no attacks by Turkey-controlled armed groups had been recorded within the Idlib de-escalation zone.

On Wednesday, the terrorist group shelled the settlements of Ruaiha, Urum al-Kubra, and Urum al-Sughra in the war-torn country's Idlib and Aleppo provinces.

On 5 March, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, agreed on a ceasefire in Idlib, which started at midnight. The sides also agreed to create a security corridor six kilometres (3.7 miles) north and south of the M4 highway in Syria, which connects the provinces of Latakia and Aleppo. In addition, Moscow and Ankara agreed to jointly patrol the M4 highway.

Militants remain in control of a small pocket of the Idlib province in northwest Syria.

*Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra) is a terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other countries.

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