The attack appeared to be a response to a recent ATGM attack that targeted an NFL shuttle bus in the al-Ghab Plain in the northwestern countryside of Hama. The attack, which took place on May 8, claimed the lives of six Turkish-backed militants and injured four others.
The deadly attack, which is a blatant violation of the Greater Idlib ceasefire, will most likely not go unpunished. The Syrian Arab Army and its allies have always responded to these violations with violence.
The cessation of all major military operations in Greater Idlib has clearly strengthened the militants occupying the region, especially Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and the al-Qaeda-affiliated NFL. Al-Ikhbariya television said the incident occurred on Friday morning.
"Terrorists ... fired anti-tank missiles at an army bus west of Aleppo near Anjar," the broadcaster quoted a military source as saying.
Syria has been at war since 2011. Forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government are battling various rebel groups, including jihadists from ISIS (Daesh), Jabhat al-Nusra which is al Qaeda's offshoot in Syria and Iraq.
Dozens of armed groups, both Syrians and foreigners, are entrenched in the country. They are supported by funds and weapons by foreign countries.
Several cities, especially Idlib, are now under the control of armed terrorist groups dominated by Al Nusra and Turkestan militias of Uigur origin. They occasionally carry out attacks against the Syrian Army. Syria asked Russia for help to fight the terrorist group.
ISIS or Daesh and Jabhat al-Nusra or Al-Nusra Front, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, or al-Qaeda in Syria are terrorist groups banned in Russia and various countries.
Kurdish Militia Attack Turkish Army
On May 12, Turkey's Ministry of National Defense announced that one of its soldiers had died from wounds sustained in a recent mortar attack at the Kiribati Border Post in Gaziantep Province, southeastern Turkey.
The attack originated in the town of Kobane in Syria's northeastern Aleppo countryside. The city is controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The SDF denied responsibility for the attack. However, Turkey says the attack was carried out by the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), both of which are affiliated to the group.
At least three other Turkish soldiers and a civilian were injured in the mortar attack, which coincided with a rocket attack on the Turkish-occupied area of northern Aleppo countryside.
The Turkish Armed Forces carried out a series of attacks in Kobane and its surroundings in response to the deadly attack. According to Turkey's Ministry of National Defense, 21 YPG and PKK fighters were "neutralized" as a result of the attack.
The ministry usually uses the term "neutralize" to indicate that the fighters were killed or injured. The deadly mortar attack was likely a response to the May 11 Turkish drone strike on Kobane, which claimed the lives of a Turkish SDF member.
Turkish and SDF forces have exchanged attacks in northern and northeastern Syria over the past few months. This could soon lead to a full-fledged military confrontation between the two sides.
