The Syrian Arab Army and National Defense Forces repelled an attack by ISIS-affiliated terrorist cells on military posts in al-Raqqa suburbs according to Al Mayadeen's correspondent.

Yesterday, Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Aleppo confirmed that on Thursday evening, prominent Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) official Abu Maria al-Qahtani was killed in the city of Sarmada, north of Syria's Idlib.

According to our correspondent, al-Qahtani was killed when an explosive device planted in his residence was detonated, also killing other individuals accompanying him.

It is noteworthy that the leader of the terrorist Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham militant group, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, had accused al-Qahtani of collaborating with enemy parties and detained him for eight months before releasing him last month due to mounting pressure and massive demonstrations that HTS-controlled areas saw in the past couple of months.

Al-Jolani's opponents believe his decision to release al-Qahtani was an attempt to exploit the latter's prominent position within the organization to contain the ongoing internal division and chaos within the militant group.

Syria fends off simultaneous Israeli aggression, HTS terrorist attacks

Earlier, on April 1st, Israeli occupation forces launched an aerial attack from the occupied Syrian Golan on several points in the Syrian capital Damascus, a Syrian military source told the state-owned Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). 

The attack resulted in two injuries among civilians and few material losses, the source added. Syrian air defence systems intercepted several aerial targets in the attack on the Syrian capital. 

Concurrently, the terror organization, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), launched a large-scale attack on the Syrian Arab Army's (SAA) positions in Jabal al-Zawiyah in southern Idlib. The Syrian Armed Forces foiled the attack while artillery units targeted several HTS supply lines.

Read more: Al-Assad doubles down on support for Resistance after Israeli attacks