Regime airstrikes kill 7 civilians in NW Syria

IDLIB, Syria

Syrian regime forces carried out airstrikes in the country’s Idlib de-escalation zone, killing seven civilians, local sources said Monday.

Regime warplanes targeted a vehicle evacuating civilians from Rahal in rural Aleppo, according to the Syrian opposition aircraft observatory.

The airstrikes killed everyone on board including three women and three children, said local civil defense agency, the White Helmets.

The Bashar al-Assad regime and its allies have continued their intensified air and land attacks on civilian settlements in the Idlib de-escalation zone.

In September 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited. But more than 1,800 civilians there have been killed in attacks by regime and Russian forces since then as the cease-fire continues to be violated.

On Jan. 10, Turkey announced a new cease-fire in Idlib would start just after midnight Jan. 12, but the regime and Iran-backed terrorist groups have continued ground attacks.

More than one million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border due to intense attacks over the past year.

Turkey remains the country with most refugees in the world, hosting more than 3.7 million migrants since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011.