According to activists, twelve civilians were killed in Russian airstrikes in northwest Syria today. Ten people have died in the province of Aleppo and two in the neighboring province of Idlib, the opposition-oriented Syrian Human Rights Observatory, based in Great Britain, reported.
Among the fatalities in Aleppo were eight members of a single family who had sought refuge in a house in the village of Kfar Taal. Information from the observatory, which relies on a network of whistleblowers in Syria, is difficult to verify independently.
Agreed ceasefire broken
According to the observatory, six children were among the dead in Kfar Taal. Three girls had already been killed in airstrikes there yesterday. Aleppo borders on the last Syrian rebel stronghold Idlib. A ceasefire that Russia and Turkey had agreed on was supposed to come into effect there almost two weeks ago. Moscow supports the government troops in the Syria conflict, Ankara supports the rebels fighting against the government.
Despite the agreed ceasefire, government forces had continued an offensive last week and had advanced within a few kilometers to a strategically important city in the south of Idlib.
Idlib and parts of the neighboring provinces of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia are controlled by the former Al Qaeda branch HTS and other Islamist militias. Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad is determined to regain control of the region. With government troops advancing, hundreds of thousands of people have fled Idlib.
