Syrian troops on Thursday pounded the positions of al-Nusra terrorists in the areas al-Habit, Karsaa, Tarmala and Sarja in the southern countryside of Idlib, killing and injuring scores of them, SANA reported.
The areas where the clashes broke out are located in a planned buffer zone, which surrounds Idlib and also parts of the adjacent provinces of Aleppo and Hama.
Under a deal reached following a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in September, all militants should have withdrawn from the demilitarization zone by October 15.
However, al-Qaeda-linked Takfiri terrorists said they refuse to either leave the buffer zone or hand over their weapons.