Regime bombings kill 14 civilians in northwest Syria: monitor

Syrian regime bombardment has killed 14 civilians includingseven children in northwestern Syria, a war monitor said Saturday, in thelatest deadly raids on the embattled opposition bastion.

Warplanes and helicopters late Friday carried out airstrikes on Mahambel village in Idlib province, killing 13 civilians includingthe seven children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

   

A woman was also killed early Saturday in regime rocket fireon the outskirts of the town of Khan Sheikhun in the south of the province, theBritain-based war monitor said.

Idlib, a region of some three million people, many of whomfled former rebel-held areas retaken by the government, is the last majorbastion of opposition to the Russia-backed Damascus government after eightyears of civil war.

The region on Turkey’s doorstep is administered by Syria’sformer Al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, but other jihadist and rebelgroups are also present.

Idlib is supposed to be protected from a major regimeassault by a September deal between Moscow and Ankara, but Damascus and itsRussian ally have ramped up their deadly bombardment of the region since lateApril.

More than 520 civilians have been killed since then,according to the Observatory.

The United Nations says 25 health facilities in the regionhave been hit, the latest including the second attack in two months on anunderground hospital in the town of Kafranbel on Thursday.

“The attacks happened despite the fact that thecoordinates of this hospital had previously been shared with the parties to theconflict in a deliberate, carefully planned effort to prevent any attacks onit,” an UN official said on Friday.

“I am horrified by the ongoing attacks on civilianareas and civilian infrastructure as the conflict in northwest Syriacontinues,” said Mark Cutts, UN deputy regional humanitarian coordinatorfor the Syrian crisis.

Syria’s war has killed more than 370,000 people anddisplaced millions since it started in 2011 with a brutal crackdown onanti-government protests.

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