Russian airstrikes kill 4 civilians in Syria's Idlib

By Esref Musa and Burak Karacaoglu

IDLIB, Syria (AA) – Four civilians were killed in Russian airstrikes in the Idlib de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria on Saturday, according to local sources.

Russian warplanes struck the towns of Sheikh Mustafa and Jibala in Idlib province and Kabina town in Latakia province, the sources said, requesting anonymity due to safety concerns.

The attacks left four people dead in Jibala town, the sources said.

In 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

The de-escalation zone is currently home to some 4 million civilians, including hundreds of thousands displaced in recent years by regime forces from throughout the war-weary country.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the 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.