Russian airstrikes kill 6 civilians in Idlib, Syria

IDLIB, Syria

Six civilians were killed and 12 others injured on Monday when fresh Russian airstrikes hit Idlib de-escalation zone in Syria's northwest, according to the White Helmets civil defense agency.

Source with the White Helmets told Anadolu Agency that three were killed in the Bsakla village, two in Kafr Sajna and one in Maaret Hurmah.

Twelve were injured, the source said expressing concern that casualties might rise.

Turkey and Russia agreed last September to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone where acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

The Syrian regime and its allies, however, have consistently broken the terms of the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the zone.

The de-escalation zone is currently home to some four million civilians, including hundreds of thousands displaced in recent years by regime forces from throughout the war-weary country.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat