The National Liberation Front thwarted an infiltration attempt by Russian militias on Saturday night to advance on the axis of Jabal Al-Zawiya in the southern Idlib countryside following hours of heavy fighting.

"The militias tried just after midnight to move towards Benin fields on the eastern axis of the Jabal Zawiya area," a military source in the National Front told Call Syria, adding: "However, our fighters stationed on the axis were able to discover the attempt and repelled the advance groups."

The source added that the clashes lasted for hours, during which the militias lost a number of members and others were wounded without succeeding in making any progress, further indicating that the area was subjected to intense artillery and missile shelling after the failed attempt to infiltrate it, in conjunction with efforts to evacuate the bodies and injured.

In recent days, Russian reconnaissance planes have intensified their flights over the rural southern Idlib area and the Al-Ghab plain area, west of Hama. The fighter jets also carried out a number of raids, some of which targeted villages and civilian centers, using air-to-air missiles against civilian targets.
Turkish presidential spokesman, Ibrahim Kalın indicated in a statement issued on Saturday that despite the repeated provocations related to the ceasefire agreement, the calm is still holding to date.

Report and photo from Call Syria