Monitor: Militants Fire Shells at Syria’s Foua in Violation of Truce

Shells fired by militants hit the village of al-Foua in the Syrian Northwestern province of Idlib in violation of a recently enforced ceasefire, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The militants fired at al-Foua and Kefraya late on Saturday. No immediate casualties has been reported.

Reports said on Tuesday that a cease-fire agreement covering the Syrian border town of Zabadani and two villages in the Northern province of Idlib between Hezbollah and the Syrian army on one side, and terrorist groups on the other, was extended until reaching an agreement.

Al-Manar TV channel said on Tuesday that the truce would continue until a final agreement was reached on the status of militants and civilians in Kefraya and Foua towns.

It is the third cease-fire to cover these areas in around a month.

The cease-fire, which went into effect at mid-Sunday covers also the villages of Madaya and Baqin, which are adjacent to Zabadani.

Hezbollah and Syrian forces have tightened the noose around terrorists in Zabadani region and Idlib province. The operation began in early July and is seen as an attempt to bolster control of land routes between Lebanon and Syria and sever rebel supply lines.

Zabadani is located 50 kilometers Northwest of Damascus and 12 kilometers Northeast of Lebanon’s Masnaa border crossing.

Earlier this month, Israel attacked a position of the Syrian army in Zabadani that was used by government and Hezbollah’s joint troops to pound terrorists.

The Israeli Air Force carried out airstrikes against an artillery position of the Syrian Army near the town of Zabadani, around 45 km (28 miles) from Syria’s capital Damascus, a military source said at the time.

“The Israeli Air Force planes carried out airstrikes at an artillery position belonging to the Syrian army,” the source said. “The artillery was used by the army to repel attacks from militants in the Eastern part of Zabadani.”

The source added that terrorists attacked Syrian army positions on the East side of Zabadani on September 10. The Syrian military, supported by the artillery shelling, managed to repel the attack after a three-hour battle.

After the Israeli Air Force carried out the airstrike, militants reportedly launched a second assault attempt, also repelled by the government’s forces, according to the source.

On September 6, military sources said that the Syrian Army and the Hezbollah, in their mop-up operations in Zabadani, uncovered one of the largest supply tunnels of rebel groups in Zabadani area.

The sources said that the Syrian Army’s 63rd Brigade of the 4th Mechanized Division – in coordination with Hezbollah, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), and the National Defense Forces (NDF) – uncovered one of Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham’s large supply tunnels that stretched from the Beit Al-Dalati neighborhood to the outskirts of Southern Zabadani.

The large tunnel unearthed by the Syrian army and Hezbollah was used by Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham militants to resupply and reinforce their embattled combatants that were completely surrounded by the Syrian Armed Forces and Lebanese Resistance near Zabadani’s city-center.