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15 dead following Russian airstrikes in opposition-held Idlib

February 7, 2017 at 11:58 am

Image of civilians and civil defence members on the rubble of a destroyed building in Idlib, Syria [Abmad Momar – Anadolu Agency]

At least 15 people died in airstrikes on the opposition-held Syrian city of Idlib today, in some of the heaviest raids there in months.

Residents and rescue workers told Reuters that around eight attacks, by what were believed to be Russian jets, wounded scores of people and levelled several multi-storey buildings in residential areas of the north-western city.

“We are still pulling bodies from the rubble,” Issam Al-Idlibi, a volunteer civil defence worker, said. Most of the casualties were civilians and the death toll will probably rise, he added.

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The extent of the damage and the debris bore the hallmarks of a Russian attack, two witnesses said. There was no immediate comment from Moscow.

Russian planes have targeted a number of towns and villages in the area since entering the Syrian conflict in September 2015 to back ally President Bashar Al-Assad.

But activists and residents said there had been a reduction of Russian strikes in Idlib province since a Turkish-Russian brokered cessation of hostilities late December.

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Planes from the US-led coalition have also launched a number of attacks in the rural province, a major stronghold of jihadists, many of them formerly affiliated to Al-Qaeda.

Idlib’s population has been swollen by thousands of Syrian fighters and their families who were evacuated from villages and towns around Damascus and Aleppo, cities recaptured by the government in recent months.