An attack Saturday by jihadists linked to Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate killed 13 regime fighters.
Heavy fighting and shelling broke out between both sides, so far “killing at least 13 regime troops and allies fighters”, the Britain-based monitoring group said. That region is in theory protected from a massive regime military offensive by a deal inked in September by government ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey.
A planned buffer zone around the region was never fully implemented as jihadists refused to withdraw from it. He urged progress on removing “obstacles” to the stalled deal ahead of talks to be attended by Russia, fellow ally Iran, and Turkey next week in Kazakhstan.