'Fiercest' shellfire yet around Syria truce zone: Monitor

Rebels and jihadists traded fire with government forces in northern Syria overnight, their "fiercest" exchanges since a buffer zone deal was announced for the area last month, a monitor said Thursday.

A 15- to 20-kilometre (nine to 12-mile) wide "de-militarised zone" was announced by rebel backer Turkey and government ally Moscow on September 17 to separate government troops from rebel fighters in their last major bastion in Idlib province and adjacent areas.

Shelling has continued intermittently, however, and escalated dramatically late Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"It was the fiercest bombing yet since September 17," said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Britain-based monitoring group.

"Syrian government rocket and artillery fire killed one girl in Kafr Hamra," an Aleppo province town inside the declared buffer zone.

Rebel shelling from inside the zone killed three civilians in government-held territory earlier this week.

Late on Wednesday, rocket fire by both jihadists and Turkish-backed rebels hit second city Aleppo, wounding 10 people, Abdel Rahman said.

State news agency SANA gave the same casualty toll and said the army responded against the sources of the fire north and northwest of the city.

The National Liberation Front, the Turkish-backed rebel alliance which is the main armed group in that area, said it was responding to government violations of the truce deal with "light and medium weapons."
Syrian pro-government newspaper Al-Watan said the jihadists' failure to withdraw "provides the justification for the Syrian army and Russian air force to start a military operation to oust (HTS) from the area."