Syria regime, allies kill civilians in heavy shelling on rural Idlib

Four civilians were killed in an aerial bombardment carried out by the Syrian regime and Iranian groups allied with it on the de-escalation zone in northern Syria, the Anadolu Agency reported.

According to local sources cited by Anadolu, the bombing targeted the city of Khan Sheikhoun, the villages of Amriya and Muqa in the southern countryside of Idlib, and the town of Kfar Zeita in the northern suburb of Hama.

Sources from the opposition’s Civil Defence forces told the Anadolu correspondent that four civilians were killed in the shelling that targeted the village of Moka early yesterday.

This bring to 32 the number of civilians killed in four days of shelling.

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Since 25 April, the regime and the Russian and Iranian forced allied with it have been carrying out a fierce bombing campaign, along with ground military operations, on the de-escalation zones, which had been designated under the 2017 Astana talks.

Within the framework of the agreement, Idlib and its environs, along with specific parts of the governorates of Aleppo, Hama and Lattakia, were included in the de-escalation zones.

Some four million civilians are currently living in the de-escalation zones. These include hundreds of thousands who were displaced by the regime from the towns and cities that Al-Assad’s forces have regained control of during the eight-year civil war.

Caricature of Syrian President sending air strikes in Syria – Cartoon [Alaraby/Twitter]