Syrian forces on Saturday carried out an operation against al-Nusra Front terrorists in al-Hweiz town in north of Hama, a military source told SANA news agency.
Large groups of the terrorists, including foreign mercenaries, were killed during the attack, the source added.
Terrorists were largely defeated in late 2017 by the Syrian army thanks to support from the Damascus government’s allies, namely Iran and Russia, losing almost all the swathes of land they had captured from the Syrian government in the course of their terror campaign.
The Saturday clashes took place near the buffer zone, which surrounds Idlib and also parts of the adjacent provinces of Aleppo and Hama.
Under a deal reached following a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in September, all militants should have withdrawn from the demilitarization zone by October 15.
However, al-Qaeda-linked Takfiri terrorists said they refuse to either leave the buffer zone or hand over their weapons.
Moscow believed that the 15-20 kilometer buffer zone would help stop attacks from Idlib-based militants on Syrian army positions and Russia's military bases in the flashpoint region.
Idlib and some surrounding areas are the last major bastions of Takfiri terrorists and anti-government militants in Syria.