Dual air strikes in Syria’s Idlib, the disputed northwestern province, reportedly claimed at least 13 lives on Sunday, according to eyewitness accounts. The strikes targeted a marketplace and a nearby building in the city of Idlib.
According to the Syrian government, the strikes aimed at an extremist outpost, conducted in conjunction with Russian air force units.
Local reports given to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights – a British-based war monitor with extensive contacts across Syria – confirmed the death of two children in the onslaught.
The observatory also reported additional fatalities from a separate air raid near the city of Idlib, which included a rebel combatant and several civilians. Three more militants were reportedly killed near the marketplace, which also claimed the lives of six civilians.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the organisation, stated, “These Russian strikes are the deadliest in Syria this year and equate to a massacre.” He alleged that the attacks by Russian and Syrian forces were in retaliation to dual drone attacks by militants, which resulted in four civilian deaths. One such attack in Salhab, Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s hometown, tragically claimed the life of a mother and child.
Intriguingly, mid-June also saw the death of a Russian soldier in the neighbouring Aleppo province due to an unexplained explosion.
Eyewitness accounts of the incident on June 13 have varied, with some attributing the explosion to a mortar attack and others suggesting a roadside bomb. To date, no faction has claimed responsibility.
Labourer Saad Fato, a survivor of the marketplace strike, told AFP that he assisted with rescue efforts. He recounted the horror, stating, “Russians shells rained on us,” while he unloaded fresh produce at the time of the attack.
Abdel Rahman reported that the deceased combatant near Idlib was part of the Turkistan Islamic Party, an Uyghur-led extremist group. He further added that the deceased children’s parents were also members of this group.
Casualties continue to mount, with Abdel Rahman stating that Sunday’s strikes wounded at least 30 civilians, with a potential rise in the death toll expected.
Earlier, Ahmed Yazigi of the Jisr Al Shughur civil defence reported nine fatalities from the strikes, without specifying whether this included combatants.
Jisr Al Shughur has been a bastion of anti-government sentiment, bearing witness to some of the most violent confrontations between the regime and anti-government groups and protesters in 2011.
At present, the Idlib region is heavily influenced by extremist Islamist factions, with nearby areas bordering Turkey under the control of Turkish-backed Islamist militias. The conflict in Syria’s north continues to smoulder, with neither side achieving clear victory.
The Syrian conflict, which began in 2011 following brutal suppression of pro-democracy protests, has resulted in over half a million deaths and displacement of approximately half of the country’s pre-war population. The Assad regime, backed by Russia and Iran, has gradually regained much of the territory initially lost in the early stages of the conflict.
On the preceding Saturday, two more civilian deaths in the Idlib region were attributed to a Russian air strike.
Image Credit: Aladdin Hammami on Unsplash
