Regime attacks kill six in NW Syria: White Helmets

By Esref Musa and Burak Karacaoglu

IDLIB, Syria (AA) – At least six civilians were killed by regime airstrikes in Syria’s northwestern de-escalation zones, according to sources within the White Helmets civil-defense agency.

The attacks occurred in the towns of Khan Sheykhun, Jisr al-Shughour and Saraqib in Syria’s Idlib province, the sources said.

According to the same sources, regime forces and Iran-backed terrorist groups also shelled the towns of Maarat al-Numan and Maarat Herma, along with the villages of Al-Kassabiyya, Abdin, Karasaa, Kafr Sajna and Al-Naqeer.

The latest casualties bring the total civilian death toll in Idlib to 460 since April 25.

Some 1.5 million people currently reside in Idlib, half of whom have been displaced from their homes in other parts of the country.

Turkey and Russia agreed last September to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression would be expressly prohibited.

The Syrian regime, however, has consistently broken the terms of the truce, staging frequent attacks inside the de-escalation zone.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in early 2011 when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected severity.

*Writing by Ali Abo Rezeg