The militants’ gathering centers in the town of Hass in Idlib were pounded after they attempted to sneak into areas located in a planned buffer zone, which surrounds Idlib and also parts of the adjacent provinces of Aleppo and Hama, SANA news agency reported.
In the meantime, the army troops carried out operations against terrorists in the areas of Haish and Kfar Sijn between Hama and Idlib, destroying a number of their vehicles, the report added.
During the counterattacks, dozens of the militants were killed and many others fled the battlefield.
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in September, all militants should have withdrawn from the demilitarization zone by October 15.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.