Syrian authorities announced that “dozens of rebels and terrorists have been captured and neutralized in northwestern Idlib province of the country.”

State-run SANA reports that security forces besieged them in mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya region near the Turkish border.

Syrian Ministry of Electricity earlier announced the disappearance of eight expert engineers of different nationalities, working at Jandar Power Generation Plant, near the Industrial City of Hasya in the countryside of Homs province.

In a statement released on Tuesday, December 20, the Ministry said the experts were in a microbus on their way to work at the plant as contact with them was cut off, adding that the experts were later reported missing.

The statement said that the authorities concerned were immediately informed of the incident noting that the initial investigations showed that the engineers were kidnapped by an armed terrorist gang.

Syrian human rights activists reported on a regular onslaught of militants in the south of Syria, where 14 soldiers and policemen got ambushed. The number of victims reached 82 in one day only.