Syrian government forces launched an attack yesterday to capture a rebel-held hill in northwestern Syria, a rebel official and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported, an expansion of operations that have continued in that area despite a deal to cease fighting.

Rebels said the assault on Kabani hill in the province of Latakia was supported by Russian air strikes. Both the government and rebels have accused each other of violating the truce, which came into effect on Saturday. The agreement

does not include Islamic State or the Nusra Front, an al Qaeda-linked group that has a wide presence in

cover and artillery fire," said Fadi Ahmad, spokesman for the First Coastal Division, a group fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said yesterday a ceasefire agreement in Syria has been violated 31 times over the past three days. She did not say who had broken the tentative truce between Syrian government forces and opposition rebels, reports Reuters.

A senior Syrian opposition official said yesterday dates for a resumption of United Nations-backed

northwestern Syria.

The hill overlooks the rebel-held town of Jisr al-Shughour in neighbouring Idlib province, and the Ghab Plain, where rebel advances last year were seen as a growing threat to President Bashar al-Assad.

"The regime and militias are trying to storm (the hill) under very fierce Russian air

Syria peace talks remained hypothetical as long as the current truce does not fulfil its humanitarian demands.

Jordan's security services said yesterday they had thwarted a plot by IS militants to blow up civilian and military targets, in one of the US ally's largest sweeps in years against hardline sleeper cells. The security services located the militants, who were carrying suicide belts, in a hideout in the northern city of Irbid near the Syrian border, they said