An attack by Syrian regime forces on the rebel-held area of Idlib in northwestern Syria killed at least 15 and wounded several at a displaced persons camp on Wednesday, rescue workers said.
Syria’s northwest corner, including the Idlib region, is the last major chunk of territory still in rebel hands after more than eight years of war.
Ground-to-ground missiles fired from the countryside of Aleppo struck the camp at Kah, a town north of Idlib near the border with Turkey, setting tents ablaze according to the White Helmets, a rescue group known officially as the Syrian civil defense.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said pro-regime artillery shelling also hit a maternity hospital in Kah. The Syrian American Medical Society said staff at the hospital were wounded and the hospital damaged.
Also in Idlib At least six civilians, including children, were killed and a dozen wounded in Russian airstrikes targeted the town of Maarret al-Numan and an array of surrounding villages.
Wounded civilians were taken to the hospital at the Reyhanli district of Hatay, a southern Turkish province bordering Syria, according to Anadolu Agency.
The death toll from the attacks on residential areas in the Idlib de-escalation zone amounted to 75, including 13 children, over the last month, said the White Helmets.
According to Syria’s Response Coordination Group, a local non-governmental organization, the attacks of the Assad regime and its supporter Russia has displaced some 40,000 civilians in the first half of November within the Idlib de-escalation zone.
The Idlib region, which is home to some three million people including many displaced by Syria's eight-year war, is controlled by the country's former Al-Qaeda affiliate.
The Assad forces launched a blistering military campaign against Idlib in April, killing around 1,000 civilians and displacing more than 400,000 people from their homes.
A ceasefire announced by Russia has largely held since late August, although dozens of civilians have been killed in sporadic bombardment since then.
Last month, Bashar al-Assad said Idlib was standing in the way of an end to the civil war that has ravaged his country through most of the current decade.
Al-Assad, who now controls around 60 percent of the country, has vowed to reclaim the rest, including Idlib and small pockets in Latakia.
Eight years of war in Syria have killed 560,000 people and driven half the pre-war population of 22 million from their homes, including more than 6 million as refugees to neighbouring countries.
Zaman Al Wasl
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