People flee as Russia, Assad escalate bombing in north Syria: monitor

The Syria Response Coordination group said Saturday that opposition-held areas in northern Idlib province are witnessing a new wave of displacement following the military escalation by the Syrian regime and Russian forces in violation of the ceasefire agreement reached in March 2020.

At least 1,867 people have been displaced during the past 48 hours from the villages and towns of Jabal Al-Zawiya in the southern countryside of Idlib, towards northern towns far from the military operations, according to the relief group.

During the past 48 hours, the field teams have recorded more than 74 air and ground attacks, mostly carried out by the Russian warplanes.

The statement appealed to the concerned authorities in the Syrian affairs to work to stop the violations of the Syrian regime and Russia and to stop targeting residential neighborhoods.

Idlib is home to 3.5 million refugees but is controlled by opposition Islamist fighters. Russia wants all assistance channeled through Damascus.

Syrian regime shelling on Thursday killed 11 people, one of the deadliest violations of a 15-month-old ceasefire, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The bodies of several victims were lined on the floor and covered with blankets.

The incident started with rocket fire near the village of Iblin, which lies around 25 kilometres (15 miles) southwest of the city of Idlib.

A second attack killed seven people who had gathered at the site of the first, said the monitor.

The attack was one of the deadliest since a March 2020 ceasefire, which was brokered by the conflict's main Russian and Turkish brokers and has largely held since.

Since the ceasefire deal, the Russian-backed regime has stopped short of launching a fully-fledged land offensive to deliver on its promise to reconquer the entire country.

But violations of the ceasefire are relatively frequent as government forces try to maintain their stranglehold on the enclave.

This past week, Russian warplanes have pounded the southern Idlib region in tandem with artillery shelling by regime forces, according to the monitor.

The Syrian conflict has claimed 494,438 lives and has displaced 13,2 million people since it erupted in March 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-regime protests. (Zaman Al Wasl, Agencies)