Russian airstrikes kill 6 civilians in Idlib, Syria

By Esref Musa and Burak Karacaoglu

IDLIB, Syria (AA) - At least six civilians, including four children, were killed in Russian airstrikes on northwestern Syria, a local civil defense agency said on Wednesday.

The airstrikes pounded the district of Marratinnuman in Idlib province, according to the Syrian opposition’s aircraft observatory.

Scores of civilians were also injured in the late hour airstrikes, said the White Helmets.

The Assad regime also carried out mortar, gun, and rocket attacks in four villages of Idlib.

The death toll from the attacks on residential areas in the Idlib de-escalation zone over the last month totals 75, including 13 children, said the White Helmets.

Turkey and Russia agreed in September 2018 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 zone.

The de-escalation zone is currently home to some four 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 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.