Idlib: Assad airstrikes kill 12 civilians including 7 children

(Zaman Al Wasl)- A Syrian regime airstrike on the northern city of Idlib killed 12 civilians, the Civil Defence Agency said Tuesday.

Seven children were among the victims in the raid on the Industrical districy in the city.

Meanwhile, the wave of displacement that has seen around 700,000 people flee a regime offensive in Idlib region is the biggest of the nine-year-old conflict, the United Nations said Tuesday.

"In just 10 weeks, since 1 December, some 690,000 people have been displaced from their homes in Idlib and surrounding areas," a spokesman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

"This is, from our initial analysis, the largest number of people displaced in a single period since the Syrian crisis began almost nine years ago," David Swanson said.

More than half of Syria's population had already been displaced by the nine years of conflict, but the latest regime offensive against the last rebel enclave in the country has sent these numbers soaring.

Idlib province and its surroundings have been a dead end for many people previously displaced by Russian-backed regime operations against former rebel strongholds across the country.

Turkey, which already hosts more than three million refugees, fears a massive fresh influx from Syria and has kept its border closed to the newly displaced people in Idlib.

Assad helicopter downed

A Syrian military helicopter was shot down in on Tuesday, two Turkey-backed rebel commander said on Tuesday.

The helicopter was downed south of Idlib city, where rebels supported by Turkish artillery were advancing near the town of Nairab to push back Russian-led forces, Abdulah al Shami, a commander in a coalition of mainstream rebel factions, told Reuters.

Rebel sources told Zaman al-Wasl the names of the helicopters crew as following: Brigadier General Issa Izzedin, originally from Homs province, was escaped a helicopter crash in 2017 in Qamisli city, Major Ali Req al-Hallaq and Lieutenant Bashar Mahmoud Samra.

Syrian armed factions backed by Turkish artillery launched on Monday major attacks engaged regime forces and allied Shiite forces near Nayrab town, killing more than 50 troops.

Nine officers were among the deaths.

The conflict in Syria has killed more than 380,000 people since it erupted following the brutal repression of popular demonstrations demanding regime change.

Zaman Al Wasl