Russian forces carried out fresh airstrikes on a de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria, killing at least nine civilians, local sources said on Monday.
According to the Syrian opposition aircraft observatory, Russian warplanes targeted the rural areas of the northwestern Aleppo province in the morning.
The attack killed at least five people and injuring nine others, said the White Helmets, a local civil defense agency.
Turkey has pushed hard for a cease-fire in Idlib after the region endured months of battering by forces loyal to the Bashar al-Assad regime and its allies, sending about a million civilian refugees flocking towards the Turkish border.
Turkey and Russia agreed in September 2018 to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.
About 27,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled the rebel-held countryside of Aleppo in the past 72 hours since regime forces backed by Shiite militias began major offensive on Friday, local war monitoring said.
The Syrian Response Coordinators Group said about 4700 families, including discalced people, have fled the southern and western countryside to escape the aerial and ground campaign.
The displaced civilians headed to areas near the Turkish border due to the attacks which violate the cease-fire agreement between Turkey and Russia.
Mohammad Hallaj, the director of the group, told Anadolu Agency that the civilians left their homes in Darat Izzah district and several towns, including Khan Tuman, Khan al-Asal, Kafr Naya, and al-Qasimia due to attacks supported by Russian air strikes.
Syrian armed factions have thwarted an incursion by regime forces into strategic hilltops in eastern Idlib region, rebel commander told Zaman al-Wasl Sunday.
The regime army backed by allied militias was pushing to take the hilltops of Khatra and Mosaitef but the three-hour clashes halted their advance, according to Naji Mustaf, commander in the National Front.
More than 20 forces, including 2 officers, were killed, Mustafa added.
The Idlib region has witnessed an uptick in violence this week, as the Syrian government presses a deadly offensive despite a ceasefire arranged by its Russian ally and rebel backer Turkey.
Around 350,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, have fled a renewed Russian-backed offensive in the opposition-held Idlib province since early December, and have sought shelter in border areas near Turkey, the United Nations said Thursday.
United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called Friday for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Idlib, saying that the latest Syrian ceasefire had "yet again failed to protect civilians".
"It is deeply distressing that civilians are still being killed on a daily basis in missile strikes from both the air and ground," Bachelet said in a statement on the ceasefire, which was due to be implemented nearly a week ago.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he would discuss the latest attacks in northwestern Syria on Sunday with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Syria's war has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced more than half the country's population since starting in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. Agencies, Zaman Al Wasl
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