Seven civilians were killed in a Russian airstrike Thursday on residential areas in de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria, according to civil defense agency White Helmets.
According to opposition's observatory, areas that fall within the de-escalation zones in the provinces of Idlib, Hama and Aleppo were subject to intense regime and Russian airstrikes as well as shelling.
According to sources with the White Helmets, three civilians were killed in Idlib's Kafr Roma town, two in Maarat Al-Numan city and two in Aleppo's Al-Atarib town.
The Syrian regime and its Russian ally have stepped up their deadly bombardment of the Idlib region and adjacent areas in Aleppo and Hama provinces since late April.
The death toll in the de-escalation zone since Monday has risen to 74, according to Anadolu Agency.
Turkey and Russia agreed last September to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone where acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.
The de-escalation zone is currently inhabited by about 4 million civilians, including hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the regime forces from their cities and towns over the last years, throughout the war-weary country.
Wednesday's Bombardment killed 18 civilians including five children in Idlib province.
Among these, 10 civilians including three children, all from the same family, were killed in Russian airstrikes near the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Wednesday's aerial campaign has also targeted the town of Ariha, according to Walid Aslan, head of the Civil Defense in town, killing a woman and two children and wounding.
The jihadist-run Idlib region is home to some three million people and is supposed to be protected by a months-old international truce deal.
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The spike in violence since late April has killed more than 700 civilians, including more than 170 children, according to the Observatory.
Mark Cutts, UN deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, described a worsening "nightmare" unfolding in Idlib.
"Today saw one of the deadliest attacks on civilian areas that we have seen since the upsurge in fighting began almost three months ago," he said in a Monday statement.
Syria's war has killed more than 560,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with a brutal crackdown on anti-regime protests.
Zaman Al Wasl, Agencies
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