Russian airstrikes kill 15 in NW Syria: Local sources

By Mohamed Misto and Adham Kako

IDLIB, Syria (AA) - At least 15 civilians, mostly children, were killed early Tuesday in Russian airstrikes carried out in opposition-held areas of Syria’s Idlib and Aleppo provinces, according to local pro-opposition sources.

“Russian warplanes targeted the village of Maarat Harma in the rural Jabal Zawiya region of southern Idlib,” Firas al-Jundi, who serves as health minister in Syria’s interim government, told Anadolu Agency.

Nine children and one woman were killed in the strikes, which had targeted residential areas, al-Jundi said.

Meanwhile, pro-opposition Syrian civil-defense activists said via social media that five civilians had been killed early Tuesday in a second Russian air attack on the town of Urem al-Kubra in western Aleppo.

At least five civilians, including women and children, were reportedly killed in that attack.

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