2 children killed in Syria's de-escalation zone

By Burak Karacaoglu

IDLIB, Syria (AA) - At least two children were killed in airstrikes carried out by the Bashar al-Assad regime forces in de-escalation zone in northern Syria on Wednesday, according to sources with the White Helmets civil defense agency.

According to the sources, the airstrikes were conducted in Kafraziba village of Idlib province.

They said the death toll is expected to rise.

Turkey and Russia agreed last September to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone where acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

The Syrian regime and its allies, however, have consistently broken the terms of the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the de-escalation zone.

The de-escalation zone is currently inhabited by about 4 million civilians, including hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the regime forces from their cities and towns throughout the war-weary country over recent years.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.