Russian warplanes carried out fresh airstrikes on northwestern Idleb province where Russia and Turkey agreed on a buffer zone in September, a local reporter said Sunday.
The strikes on the town of Beksariya left two civilians dead and nine more wounded, mostly children.
On Friday, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said that Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, a former affiliate of al-Qaeda in Syria, is now occupying 70 percent of Idleb, giving more pretexts to continue the Russian aerial bombing.
According to Lavrov, this is, “one of the acute problems, because it is impossible for this last major hotbed of terrorism in Syria to be allowed to be maintained.”
The deal to create the demilitarized zone, running along the contact line between rebels and the regime, staved off an offensive against Idleb.
Intermittent exchanges of fire have broken out in northwest Syria since the agreement between Russia, a key ally of Bashar al-Assad, and Turkey, which backs some of the rebel factions.
The United Nations says nearly 3 million people live in the northwest region and has warned against a battle to restore state rule there.
Since the revolution erupted in 2011, more than 560,000 people have been killed, and more than 6 million people have been displaced.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
