The armed Syrian opposition said that it foiled a military attack by the Syrian regime forces, backed by Russian forces, on the town of Tal Mustafa, east of Idlib governorate. She added that the attacking forces withdrew after hours of clashes.
Al-Jazeera correspondent Milad Fadl said that the town of Tal Mustafa was under the control of the regime a few days ago and the opposition took control of it, and the regime attacked it today, trying to regain it and the opposition confronted it.
The reporter added, quoting sources in the opposition forces, that they had incurred heavy losses in equipment and lives.
He said that Russian warplanes targeted the town of Ma`rat al-Numan, the town of Kafr Roma, and other towns in the eastern Idlib countryside.
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Thousands of displaced people
For its part, the Syrian News Agency (SANA) said that units of the regime forces responded to a violent attack launched by what they described as "terrorist organizations" on the axis of the town of Halban in Idlib southeastern countryside.
These attacks come despite Russia and Turkey agreeing to implement a ceasefire in Idlib province about a week ago.
On the other hand, Syrian opposition sources revealed that 27,000 civilians were displaced towards the Turkish border due to attacks by the regime forces and its supporters in the western and southern countryside of Aleppo during the past three days.
The Syrian regime forces, Russia and Iranian-backed armed groups continue to attack residential areas in the western and southern countryside of Aleppo, which is included in the de-escalation agreement.
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International call
Two days ago, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michel Bachelet, called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the Idlib governorate, which is under the control of opposition fighters, saying that the latest ceasefire in Syria had again failed to protect civilians.
Turkey, which supports factions of the armed Syrian opposition, has agreed to a ceasefire with Russia that was supposed to be implemented this month in the northwestern Syria and housing three million people.
"It is very regrettable that civilians continue to be killed every day in air and ground missile strikes," Bachelet said in a statement. "This agreement, like others over the past year, once again failed to protect civilians."
She added that her office had received reports of the resumption of air strikes on January 15, and armed groups had carried out ground attacks that resulted in deaths.
"People are still being killed, a lot of people are on both sides," Jeremy Lawrence, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, told a news briefing.
He added that since the intensification of hostilities in the "de-escalation zone" in Idlib on April 29, UN observers have documented incidents in which 1,506 civilians have been killed, including 293 women and 433 children.
The United Nations said last Thursday that about 350,000 Syrians - most of them women and children - had fled since early December last, to areas near the border with Turkey.