UPDATE - Syria: Assad, Russian attacks in Idlib kill 12

By Esref Musa, Burak Karacaoglu

UPDATES RECENT DEATH TOLL

IDLIB, Syria (AA) – At least 12 civilians were killed in a Russian airstrike Thursday on residential areas in a de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria, according to civil defense agency White Helmets.

According to opposition's observatory, areas that fall within the de-escalation zones in the provinces of Idlib, Hama and Aleppo were subject to intense regime and Russian airstrikes as well as shelling.

According to sources within the White Helmets, three civilians were killed in Idlib's Kafr Roma town, two in Maarat Al-Numan city, one in the city of Khan Sheikhoun, three in Al Bawabiya village of Aleppo’s countryside, one in Latmeen village of Hama’s countryside and two in Aleppo's Al-Atarib town.

The death toll in the de-escalation zone since Monday has risen to 79.

Turkey and Russia agreed last September 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 de-escalation zone.

The de-escalation zone is currently inhabited by about 4 million civilians, including hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the regime forces from their cities and towns over the last years, throughout the war-weary country.

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