Turkish ground and air strikes on Syrian regime forces and their allies in northwest Syria's Idlib have killed 48 pro-Damascus soldiers, including Hezbollah members, in the past 24 hours, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Saturday.
Among those killed in the strategic eastern Idlib city of Saraqeb are 12 members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah and two of its commanders, the Observatory said.
But a commander in the regional alliance backing the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, said that the Turkish strikes on northwest Syria late on Friday killed nine Hezbollah members and wounded 30 others.
He said on Saturday that the strikes targeted Hezbollah headquarters near Saraqeb, using smart missiles and drones.
According to the monitor, Syrian regime and Russian warplanes continued airstrikes on Saturday on Saraqeb, a focal point of intensified fighting in recent days between Turkish-backed fighters and Damascus.
The opposition fighters retook the city from government forces Thursday, cutting off a key highway just days after the regime reopened it for the first time since 2012.
