Russia airstrikes kill 50 people in Deir Ezzor

(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 35 fleeing people have been killed on Wednesday in Russian airstrikes on eastern Deir Ezzor province, topping death toll of strikes on displaced people to 100, local media group said.

Furat Post news site said the strikes had targeted civilians were trying to cross the Euphrates River aboard rafts from al-Quriya village to al-Tayyaneh village, escaping from areas where Russian-backed regime forces are battling the Islamic State group.

13 more people, mostly family members, were killed in Russian airstrikes on Albu Kamal town at the border with Iraq, according to media activist Suhaib Jaber from Furat Post.

Last month, the regime army broke a years-long IS siege of government enclaves in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor.

The major offensive on ISIS territories in eastern Syria has left more than 3000 people killed including 955 civilians since September, the deadliest month of the conflict this year, according to the Observatory.

The 955 civilians killed in September included 207 children, said the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria for its information.

Backed by Russian air power, the army has continued its advance towards Mayadin from Deir Ezzor along the Euphrates valley.

ISIS has lost swathes of territory to the regime and to U.S.-backed Syrian Syrian Democratic Forces that are waging separate campaigns against the extremist group's last major strongholds in Deir Ezzor province.