Iraqi Air Force jets take part in a military parade in Baghdad, Iraq. Syria’s state news agency said Sunday, Dec. 30, 2018 that President Bashar Assad has authorized Iraqi forces to attack the Islamic State group inside Syria without waiting for permission from authorities in Damascus. (File photo: AP)

DAMASCUS, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army has carried out intense strikes on rebel positions in the southern countryside of Idlib province in northwestern Syria, state news agency SANA reported on Saturday.

The strikes led to the killing and injury of many rebels and the destruction of their positions, SANA said.

The army also carried out strikes on the rebel's positions in the areas between Hama and Idlib provinces.

SANA reported that the army is responding to the attacks of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the umbrella group of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, in the southern countryside of Idlib and the northern countryside of Hama.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said that Russian and Syrian airstrikes and shelling have intensified against the HTS in Hama and Idlib over the past 12 days.

It said that over 7,750 airstrikes and ground shelling targeted the aforementioned areas, leading to the displacement of 300,000 people in that region.

Areas in the countryside of Hama, Idlib and the western countryside of Aleppo are included in the de-escalation zones deal which was reached between Russia and Turkey in September 2018.

The deal failed to materialize as the HTS expanded in Idlib and started attacks on Syrian military positions instead of withdrawing from the designated zone which combines Idlib with Hama and Aleppo countryside.