The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said nine soldiers died as well as one of the attackers, who belong to the al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the strongest insurgent group in northwest Syria. It said 12 soldiers and one HTS member were wounded in the attack.

Taher al-Omar, an opposition activist who closely follows HTS, said the attack in the northwestern province of Latakia killed 18 soldiers and several others.

The attack came less than a week after insurgents in northwest Syria attacked an army position, killing and wounding more than 30 troops.

In another part of north Syria, Turkey-backed opposition gunmen briefly captured the village of Mahsanli, which is controlled by Kurdish fighters. The Kurdish forces regained control of the village in a counteroffensive hours later, the Syrian Observatory said.

The Kurdish-led Manbij Military Council, part of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, said the situation in Mahsanli was again under control after several Turkey-backed gunmen were killed. Opposition activists reported a Russian airstrike on the village after it fell into the hands of opposition fighters.

A truce reached between Russia and Turkey in March 2020 that ended a Russian-backed government offensive on Idlib province has been repeatedly violated, resulting in scores of people getting killed and wounded.

Syria's 12-year conflict, which started with anti-government protests and morphed into a civil war, has killed half a million people and displaced half the country's prewar population of 23 million. More than 5 million Syrians are now refugees, most in neighbouring countries.

Russia has been a main backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad and joined the war in September 2015, helping tip the balance of power in his favor. Turkey is a main backer of the armed opposition.?