Hama countryside: Islamic militants in Syria, disguised as farmers and wearing suicide belts, attacked a government military post on Tuesday in the country's northwest, setting off clashes that killed three soldiers, state media reported.
Explosive belts on the ground A state-run media house quoted an unnamed military official as saying the militants approached the post in Tayyibat al-Imam, just outside Idlib province.
The area is within a de-militarized zone that was part of a truce deal sponsored by Russia and Turkey since September.
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A rise in violence in recent weeks has strained the fragile truce, which had earlier averted a government offensive on Idlib and surrounding areas, the last major rebel stronghold in the country.
The region is home to some three million people, including many displaced from other battles in the civil war.
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The UN has warned of an "alarming spike in civilian casualties and new displacement," with increased fighting and intensification of airstrikes in the truce area.
Both the Observatory for Human Rights and a media group, Idlib Correspondent, said the jihadi Ansar Tawheed group was behind the attack.
