Fighting escalates, killing dozens

BEIRUT — Al Qaedalinked fighters on Sunday attacked Syrian government positions on the edge of the country’s last rebel stronghold, triggering intense clashes that killed nearly three dozen combatants across both sides, opposition activists said.

The fighting was among the worst since early March, when an agreement between Turkey and Russia halted the Syrian government’s threemonth air and ground campaign into rebelheld northwestern Idlib province. Sunday’s clashes took place in neighboring Hama province, parts of which are still under rebel control.

Russia is a main backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Turkey backs opposition fighters trying to remove him from power. Russia and Turkey have become the main power brokers in wartorn Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said members of the al Qaedalinked group known as Horas alDin attacked government forces in the Ghab plain area. It said the fighting left 21 troops and 13 Horas alDin members dead.

The Observatory and an Idlibbased activist, Taher alOmar, said insurgents also took control of the village of Tanjara, and that Syrian government forces were shelling the area in apparent preparation for a counteroffensive.

Horas alDin are hardcore al Qaeda elements who broke away from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the strongest insurgent group in the Idlib enclave. Horas alDin, Arabic for “Guardians of Religion,” reject any ceasefire with the government.