Two civilians were killed when regime forces dropped barrel bombs on the town of Maarat al-Nu’man in the southern Idleb countryside, coinciding with rocket and artillery bombardments that put an emergency center run by the Violet organization out of operation.
According to the Idleb Media Center, Assad’s forces intensified their bombardment of cities and towns in the southern and southeastern Idleb countryside, striking the town of Maarat al-Nu’man and the towns of Maar Shamshah, Maar Shoreen, Masran, and the road between Saraqeb and Maarat al-Nu’man, with rockets and heavy machine guns, which left civilian casualties.
The bombardment of the city of Maarat al-Nu’man hit an emergency center run by the Violet organization, putting the center out of service and preventing them from providing emergency services to the wounded.
The director of the emergency center, Mamoun Kharbout, told Alsouria Net that Assad’s forces had hit the center directly with rockets from a center thought to be in Sinjar, adding that the damage was only material, without causing injuries to the staff, and the center was evacuated immediately.
Kharbout added that the center had been providing emergency services to the wounded as well as transferring the sick and providing response services in the city of Maarat al-Nu’man, which has seen heavy displacement recently.
He said that Violet would hold an emergency meeting today to discuss the center going out of operation and how the team could continue its work in the area.
The Assad regime and its ally Russia have continued their bombardment of the cities and towns of the southern and southeastern Idleb countryside, killing civilians—whose number reached 24 dead on Tuesday, according to the Idleb Media Center.
Along with the bombardments, the pace of displacement from the area has increased in recent days, with the Humanitarian Response Coordinators counting more than 2,137 families (more than 11,000 people) over the last 24 hours fleeing from the southern and southeastern Idleb countrysides, most of them still on main roads in the open.
The group added in a statement that at least 19,898 families had been displaced between Nov. 1 and Dec. 17, 2019, bringing the total number of displaced from the “de-escalation” zone to 110,000 civilians over a month and a half.
The Coordinators called on all local actors and agencies to secure shelter centers for displaced people out in the open and to immediately open schools and camps to absorb the “huge” number of people who were continuing to be displaced to parts of northern Syria.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
