Foreign jihadists kill six pro-regime fighters in Syria

Foreign jihadists based in Syria's last major rebel bastion killed at least six regime fighters in an attack Friday in the northwest of the country, a war monitor said. 

Four Uzbek fighters were also killed after they sneaked up on regime forces on the southern edge of the jihadist-dominated stronghold, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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The Idlib region, which is home to nearly three million people, is dominated by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate but other rebels and jihadist groups are also present.

An international ceasefire deal has since March 2020 stemmed a Russia-backed regime assault to retake the bastion, though some small jihadist groups have refused the agreement and continued to attack pro-Damascus fighters on its edges.

Friday's attack occurred on the outskirts of the town of Maaret al-Numan, retaken by regime forces in their latest military campaign early last year.

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The war in Syria, which began in 2011 with a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, has left more than half a million people dead and several million displaced.