Eleven dead in Russian strikes on a rebel area of Syria
Eleven people, including seven civilians, were killed Sunday in Russian airstrikes on a region of northwestern Syria in rebel hands, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
Russian forces, allied with the Syrian regime, carried out the strikes in the province of Idlib in response to rebel drone attacks that killed four civilians including two children last week, Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. director of the OSDH.
On Sunday, “six civilians were killed in Jisr Al-Choghour and three rebel fighters were killed nearby by Russian airstrikes”, according to the director of this UK-based NGO, which relies on a large network of sources in Syria.
Ahmed Yezidi, a member of the civil defense in Jisr Al-Choghour, a town controlled by the rebels, reported nine people killed, without specifying whether fighters were among them.
A fruit and vegetable market in this city was affected, according to the OSDH and an AFP correspondent on the spot.
Ahmed Yezidi denounced “a direct attack on a popular market, an essential source of income for farmers”.
A civilian and a rebel fighter were also killed in a strike near the city of Idlib, Rami Abdel Rahman said.
At least 30 civilians were injured in these strikes, he added, adding that this assessment was probably provisional.
Russia is the main backer of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and has been intervening militarily in Syria since 2015.
With the support of Russia and Iran, the Syrian regime has regained most of the territory lost at the start of the war, which was triggered in 2011 by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations.
The last pocket of armed opposition to the regime includes large areas of the province of Idleb (west) as well as territories bordering the provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia.
The jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Cham (HTS), dominated by the former local branch of Al-Qaeda, is the main group active in this region, where there are also other less influential rebel factions, supported at varying degrees by Turkey.
The war in Syria has claimed more than half a million lives according to the OSDH, and displaced several million people.
Source » the360post
