Airstrikes kill 5 civilians in Syria’s Idlib

By Khalid Suleiman

IDLIB, Syria (AA) - At least five civilians were killed and 11 others injured Sunday in airstrikes carried out by Syrian regime and Russian warplanes in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, according to local medics.

Regime jets bombed the industrial city in Idlib, killing five people and injuring eight others, a medic at a field hospital in the city told Anadolu Agency.

The medic, who spoke anonymously due to security concerns, said the attack has left a vast trail of destruction in the area.

Three people were also injured when Russian warplanes struck the Druze village of Qalb Lawza in Idlib, Syrian activist Feras Taqi told Anadolu Agency.

Meanwhile, regime and Russian warplanes reportedly struck residential areas in the towns of Ariha and Saraqeb in Idlib.

No information was yet available about casualties.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, put the death toll from the six-year conflict at more than 470,000 people.