Jihadists launched a surprise attack on the Syrian army in the northern province of Aleppo on Wednesday, sparking clashes in which 57 combatants were killed, a war monitor said.
Clashes followed "an operation launched by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" (HTS), the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, referring to a jihadist group led by Al-Qaeda's former Syria branch which controls a chunk of northwestern Syria.
The Observatory said "26 members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and allied factions" were killed, as well as "31 members of the regime forces".
The air forces of both Syria and its ally Russia struck the attacking jihadists in the area for the first time in years, the Britain-based Observatory said.
The Syrian conflict broke out after President Bashar al-Assad repressed anti-government protests in 2011. It has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and battered the country's infrastructure and industry.
With AFP
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