Airstrikes kill 5 civilians in Syria’s Idlib

IDLIB

Five civilians were killed and seven others injured in airstrikes carried out by Syrian regime forces and Russian warplanes in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province on Saturday, according to the White Helmets civil defense agency.

“Airstrikes this morning killed five people, including four people in Abdin village, one in Al-Hulubba,” Mustafa Haj Yusuf, the local head of the White Helmets in Idlib, told Anadolu Agency.

According to local sources, the attacks targeted the villages of Hbit, Sarja, Khuwayn and Al-Hulubba in Idlib and Al-Lataminah village in the northern Hama province.

At least 26 civilians have been killed and dozens injured in airstrikes and attacks by regime forces and Russian warplanes in Idlib and Hama since the beginning of this month, according to the White Helmets.

The Syrian regime has recently announced plans to launch a major military offensive in the area, which has long been controlled by various armed opposition groups.

The UN warned earlier this week that such an offensive would lead to the "worst humanitarian catastrophe in the 21st century".

A trilateral summit of the leaders of Turkey, Russia and Iran on Friday underlined that “there could be no military solution to the Syrian conflict" and called for advancing the political process to reach a negotiated solution.

Reporting by Esref Musa, Burak Karacaoglu; Writing by Mahmoud Barakat