Syria: Russian strikes kill 8 civilians in Idlib

By Esref Musa and Mehmet Burak Karacaoglu

IDLIB (AA) - Russian and regime airstrikes in Idlib, Syria, killed at least eight civilians, a Syrian civil defense group announced Sunday.

The Syrian opposition aircraft observatory said Russia targeted villages near the town of Saraqib, as well as the district of Darat Izzah in Aleppo.

The White Helmets civil defense group said the regime airstrikes killed eight civilians, according to initial reports.

The Bashar al-Assad regime and its allies have continued with intensified air and land attacks on civilian settlements in the Idlib de-escalation zone.

In September 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited. But more than 1,800 civilians there have been killed in attacks by regime and Russian forces since then as the cease-fire continues to be violated.

Turkey on Jan. 10 announced a new cease-fire in Idlib would start just after midnight Jan. 12, but the regime and Iran-backed terrorist groups have continued ground attacks.

More than 1 million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border due to intense attacks over the past year.

Turkey remains the country with most refugees in the world, hosting more than 3.7 million migrants since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011.

*Writing by Dilara Hamit in Ankara