Twelve Syrian soldiers have been killed by an Al-Qaida linked group in northwest Syria, according to a war monitoring organization, the highest such death toll in the region this year.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday that "12 members of the regime forces, including an officer, were killed following suicide attacks carried out by special forces from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS), targeting regime forces positions in the north of Latakia province" adjacent to Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in the northwest.