News - Middle East: The Syrian military has killed and injured hundreds of foreign-backed Takfiri terrorists during defensive and retaliatory operations in the Arab country’s north.

“Our armed forces were able to inflict heavy losses on the attacking [terrorist] organizations and inflict hundreds of deaths and injuries among the terrorists’ ranks,” the General Command of the country’s Army and Armed Forces said in a statement on Friday.

The Syrian soldiers also “destroyed dozens of armored vehicles and [other] vehicles and were able to shoot down and destroy 17 drones,” it added.

The forces, meanwhile, managed to regain control over some of the points that had suffered violations during the previous hours, the statement said, noting that the troops would continue their combat operations until the terrorists were successfully pushed back.

According to the General Command, the Takfiri outfits that had resurged in northern Syria were deploying large numbers of foreign terrorists, besides relying on various types of heavy and medium weapons as well as unmanned aerial vehicles.

The statement, however, vowed that the forces would continue to reinforce their positions across all engagement axes with more soldiers and equipment to prevent terrorist violations on those axes and repel potential attacks.

It additionally warned that Takfiri outfits had begun releasing “misleading information, news, and video clips aimed at terrorizing citizens.”

The General Command, therefore, advised that Syrian citizens rather rely on official sources for credible information.

Earlier this week, members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Takfiri terrorist group were reported to have overrun many government-controlled areas and killed dozens of Syrian soldiers in the Arab country’s north.

Later, though, Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television network said the Syrian army had thwarted large-scale terrorist operations in the Aleppo Province through a preemptive strike.

Four major terrorist operations, which were set to begin from the town of Anadan, 12 kilometers (7 miles) northwest of Aleppo, were foiled before they could begin, the network said.

According to the report, the army launched intensified missile strikes against terrorist positions that stretch from villages in western Aleppo to Mount Zawiya south of the city of Idlib in an adjacent province.

The Syrian army was also said to have halted the advance of terrorists led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in southeastern Idlib and launched a counterattack to regain ground.

Also on Friday, Syrian Foreign Minister Bassam Sabbagh spoke with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi on the phone, reporting on the situation on the ground in northern Syria following the terrorist attacks.

He insisted that the Syrian state and people were standing up to terrorist aggression with all their might, and would keep preventing terrorists and their supporters from realizing their sinister ambitions.

Source: Press TV