Airstrikes kill 14 civilians in Syria’s Idlib

Monitoring Desk

IDLIB: Airstrikes have reportedly killed 14 civilians, including women and children, and injured 30 others in Syria’s Idlib de-escalation zone, an official of pro-opposition civil defense — White Helmets – said on Sunday.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency’s reporter on the ground, Mustafa Haj Yusuf, director of White Helmets, said the airstrikes were carried out by Russian and Assad regime fighter jets.

“Saraqib, Maarretinuman and Kafr Nabl districts were targeted by the Russian and Assad regime’s planes. 14 civilians were killed and 30 others were wounded,” he said.

Stating that Russia and Assad regime have dozens of fighter jets constantly flying over Idlib, Yusuf said:

“There have been more than 100 airstrikes taken place at different places in Idlib today,” he said.

Yusuf went on to note that research and rescue operations were ongoing and the wounded civilians were taken to the nearest health facilities.

Idlib de-escalation zone has been under intense airstrikes for the last 1.5 months.

Located in northern Syria near Turkish borders, Idlib governorate was declared as a “de-escalation zone” on May 4-5, 2017. Controlled by anti-regime armed groups, Idlib is occasionally targeted by the Assad regime and Russia.

Earlier, The Turkish Gene-ral Staff announced on Sun-day that Turkish army and Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces had captured the strat-egic Mt. Bursaya in northern Syria as part of the on-going Operation Olive Branch.

“The Turkish Armed Forces captured Mt. Bursaya, as part of Operation Olive Branch. Activities continue to clear terrorists from the area,” said the General Staff in a statement. It said the strategic peak was captured by the Turkish military and Free Syrian Army forces at around 2.30 p.m. local time.