Syrian government forces and opposition groups reportedly engaged in combat overnight in northwest Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a monitoring organisation based in the United Kingdom.
Since the devastating earthquakes that struck the area last week, gunfire has not broken out until now. Armed organisations opposed to the Damascus administration of President Bashar al-Assad are in charge of some areas of northwest Syria.
According to SOHR, government troops shelled the area around the rebel town of Atareb. It said that at a nearby front line, government and rebel forces were fighting with powerful machineguns at the same time.
SOHR reported that clashes also took place in another part of the northwest near the government town of Saraqeb, while government forces shelled the outskirts of two villages in Hama province.
“No casualties have been reported yet,” it added.