UPDATE - Regime attacks kill 11 civilians in Syria’s Idlib

UPDATES DEATH TOLL, ADDS DETAILS

By Esref Musa and Burak Karacaoglu

IDLIB, Syria (AA) – Eleven civilians were killed and 40 others injured on Sunday in rocket attacks by regime forces and Iran-backed militias in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, according to sources with the White Helmets civil defense agency.

The attacks targeted the towns of Maarat Al-Numan, Saraqib and Kafranbel as well as the villages of Maarat Horma, Tal Mannas and Al-Nayrab, the sources said.

Attacks were also reported in Hama province's towns of Kafr Zita, Al Hwaiz, Hawija, Al-Sharia and Qalaat Al-Madiq located in Al-Ghab plain.

Earlier reports had put the death toll from the attacks at three.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed on last September to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression would be strictly prohibited.

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.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat