Politics
17:58, 12-Jan-2017
Syria regime strikes kill six civilians, says monitor
Updated
10:33, 28-Jun-2018
[]
Share
Copied
Syrian government air strikes killed at least six civilians, including four children, in Aleppo province on Thursday, despite a fragile two-week-old truce, a monitor has said.
In neighboring Idlib province, at least 22 extremists were killed in air strikes over the past 24 hours, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Some were carried out by government aircraft, others by aircraft of the US-led coalition, the Britain-based monitoring group said.
The civilians were killed early on Thursday when a government air strike hit a house in the village of Babka in the west of Aleppo province.
It said the death toll could rise because a number of the wounded were in serious condition.
Syrian men and Civil Defense volunteers, also known as the White Helmets, search for survivors amid the rubble of a building following an air strike on the village of Maaret al-Numan, in the country's northern province of Idlib, on January 7, 2017. /CFP Photo
Syrian men and Civil Defense volunteers, also known as the White Helmets, search for survivors amid the rubble of a building following an air strike on the village of Maaret al-Numan, in the country's northern province of Idlib, on January 7, 2017. /CFP Photo
Most of the dead in the Idlib strikes were fighters of the former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham.
Two of the group's commanders were among 16 fighters killed in a coalition strike on their convoy on Wednesday, the Observatory said.
Earlier, three allied extremists were killed in a government raid. Later, three Fateh al-Sham fighters were killed in apparent drone strikes.
The Observatory says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved.
The strikes came despite a nationwide truce brokered by regime supporter Russia and rebel backer Turkey that has been in place since December 30. The truce does not include Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as Al-Nusra Front, or ISIL.
The ceasefire has brought quiet to large parts of the country, but sporadic violence has continued in some areas, threatening the fragile agreement.
Idlib province is largely controlled by a powerful alliance of opposition forces known as the Army of Conquest, which is dominated by Fateh al-Sham.
More than 310,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011.
(Story by AFP)