Russian airstrikes kill 5 civilians in Syria's opposition-held Idlib

IDLIB, Syria (AA) – Five civilians, including three children, were killed in Russian airstrikes Thursday in Syria’s opposition-held northwestern Idlib province.

According to a Syrian opposition aircraft observatory, a Russian Su-34-type warplane carried out three airstrikes on a chicken farm near the Idlib city center.

Five civilians, three of them children, were killed and five others were injured, according to sources with the Syrian Civil Defense (White Helmets).

Russian warplanes also carried out airstrikes in the area where refugee camps are concentrated in the town of Ma'arrat Misrin, also in the northern Idlib province, according to the observatory.

In May 2017, Turkey, Russia, and Iran announced that they had reached an agreement to establish a de-escalation zone in Idlib, as part of the Astana meetings related to the Syrian crisis.

However, it was only after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed on March 5, 2020, to a new truce in Idlib to end hostilities and attacks on civilians that effective de-escalation took place, with the exception of sporadic shelling by the regime and other forces.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat in Ankara