Syrian rebels pound Assad hometown with Grad rockets

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian rebels pounded Bashar al-Assad’s hometown of Qardaha in coastal Latakia province with Grad rockets late on Tuesday, local activists said.

No casualties reported due to the surface-to-surface missile attack that came in response to the regime’s major offensive on the adjacent province of Idlib where more than 110 people killed in a week of heavy bombing.

At least 6 family members, including 4 children, were killed and 16 more wounded in the regime airstrikes on the village of Khan al-Sobol in the southern countryside of Idlib.

Syrian civil defense agency said more than 100 civilians killed in 7 days of heavy bombing on the Idlib province by the regime forces which backed by Russian air force and Iranian-backed militias.

The death toll included 33 women and 16 children, according to the volunteer rescuing group as regime and allies press to take major rebel stronghold in Syria.

Two White Helmets workers were killed in the assaults while they were rescuing wounded people, according to the group.

Tuesday’s strikes targeted the Mosque of Uwais al-Qarani in the town of Maarrat al-Nu’man. The mosque has been reduced to rubble, activists say.

The Assad troops are pushing north from a corner of the adjacent province of Hama, as well as from Aleppo province to Idlib's east. They have seized around 40 towns and villages across the three provinces in recent weeks, according to AFP.

Idlib has been a haven for tens of thousands of rebels and civilians who were forced to abandon their homes in other parts of western Syria that the government and its foreign military allies have recaptured from rebels.

Since the "de-escalation zone" deal went into effect in May, hundreds of children have been killed and wounded in Idlib. But after almost five months of calm, fighters loyal to Bashar al-Assad have ramped up operations to reach Idlib.

Observers say the de-escalation deal, agreed in May, also helped regime forces to consolidate territorial gains.

Zaman A Wasl