Iraq News

Syrian regime pounds Idlib, kills 6 civilians

Bombardments by the Syrian regime killed six civilians in north-west Syria Monday (June 3rd), AFP reported.

The bombardment by Damascus and its ally Moscow of Idlib province and neighbouring areas has killed more than 300 people since late April, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It also displaced nearly 270,000 people in May alone, according to the UN.

Russia on Monday blocked a UN Security Council statement criticising Syria's military campaign in the Idlib region.

The violence in and around Idlib, which comes despite a truce deal brokered by Russia and Turkey in September, has raised fears of a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale yet unseen in Syria's eight-year conflict, which has already claimed more than 370,000 lives.

The Kremlin insisted Monday that the Russian army was only targeting "terrorists" in Syria's Idlib region, which is controlled by extremist alliance Tahrir al-Sham.

The Observatory said at least four civilians were killed in regime strikes on the town of Maaret al-Numan.

Another civilian was killed in the nearby town of Heish, while a sixth was killed by rocket fire on a village in neighbouring Hama province, it said.

Human Rights Watch on Monday accused the Syrian regime and Russia of using "internationally banned and other indiscriminate weapons in unlawful attacks on civilians in north-west Syria in recent weeks."

It said they "used banned cluster munitions and incendiary weapons... along with large air-dropped explosive weapons with wide-area effects, including 'barrel bombs'."

A total of 24 health facilities and 35 schools have been hit in the latest escalation, according to the UN's humanitarian office.

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