(Zaman Al Wasl)- Russian warplanes have carried out at least 20 raids on rebel-held areas in Homs and Hama provinces, killing 5 civilians in an initial death toll, local activists said Monday.
The Russia air strikes killed 5 people in Talbiseh and al-Dar al-Kabeera towns as raids focused on Teir Mala, Gharnata, Har Banafseh, al-Ghanto and Heboub al-Rih towns.
The month-old aerial bombing on the northern countryside of Homs and the southern countryside of Hama has left dozens killed and hundreds wounded.
Russia has intensified air strikes on the predominantly Turkmen villages of Har Banafseh, Burj Qaeda and Kissin, turning the whole villages to rubble.
Activists says Russia is deliberately attacking Turkmen villages in what seems vengeance acts against Turkey after reports of new Russian violation to the Turkish airspace last week.
Last November, Turkey shot down a Russian warplane flying a sortie over Mount Turkmen in coastal province of Latakia that it said had violated its airspace, triggering a diplomatic rupture in which Russia imposed economic sanctions.
Activists said Russia has conducted more than 300 raids on rebels-held Hama and Homs provinces since the offensive launched med January.
Since Russia's intervention in the Syria conflict in September with an air campaign to support of Bashar al-Assad, regime forces have stepped up offensives in the west and north of the country, killing about 2000 civilians.
In northern province of Aleppo, regime troops advanced toward a rebel Tal Rifaat town near the Turkish border as they pressed a Russian-backed offensive that has prompted at least 70,000 people to flee, a monitor and activists said.
The town of Tal Rifaat is around 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) from the Turkish frontier, where Syrians who have fled fighting near Aleppo city have been gathering since the assault was launched Monday, AFP reported.
It is one of the last rebel strongholds in the north of Aleppo province and regime troops are just seven kilometres away, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Regime forces backed by intense Russian air strikes have closed in on Aleppo city in their most significant advance since Moscow intervened on September 30.
Syria's mainstream rebels are now threatened with collapse after the regime severed their main supply line to Aleppo city.
Opposition forces along with roughly 350,000 civilians are in rebel-held areas of the divided city of Aleppo and face the risk of a government siege.
Syrian activists launched a social media campaign urging rebel factions operating in Aleppo to merge in one group called it ‘The Army of Aleppo to deter regime offensive and avoid collapse.
Punitive blockades have been employed elsewhere in the nearly five-year civil war, causing dire humanitarian situations including starvation.
Since Saturday night the Assad forces have surrounded the rebel bastion of Daraya in Damascus province. (With agencies)
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