Suicide attack kills 7 in Syria’s Idlib: White Helmets

By Burak Karacaoglu and Esref Musa

IDLIB, Syria (AA) – At least seven people were killed in a suicide attack in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, the White Helmets civil-defense agency said Friday.

Dozens of others were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a restaurant on Friday evening, Mustafa Haj Yousuf, the White Helmets’ director in Idlib, told Anadolu Agency.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Located near the Turkish border, Idlib was designated a “de-escalation zone” -- in which acts of aggression are expressly forbidden -- in May of last year.

Continued regime attacks in the Idlib de-escalation zone are estimated to have left at least 94 civilians dead, and more than 290 others injured, since Jan. 1.

The attacks have led to a fresh refugee exodus from Idlib’s cities of Khan Shaykhun and Maaret al-Numan.

Since February, nearly 6,900 families have migrated to safe areas and camps near the Turkish border.

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