Relative calm in Idlib and Hama after days of heavy bombardment
Idlib – North-Press Agency
Some areas within the de-escalation zones are witnessing a relative calm today after some days of heavy bombardment, amid OCHA condemnations of committing massacres in the cities of Ma’arat al-Numan and Saraqib in Idlib.
While the contact axes in the northwestern countryside of Hama witness mutual shelling between the Syrian government forces and the armed opposition groups, without any information about casualties.
After midnight, the Syrian government forces shelled areas in Baarbu, al-Amkia, Hawash, Hawija, Sirmaniyah, Tal Meleh, Jibeen and Morek in Hama countryside, and al-Rashidin and Mansoura in the western outskirts of Aleppo.
While in a statement the day before yesterday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OCHA condemned the attacks that caused civilian casualties in the markets of Ma’arat al-Numan and Saraqib.
Mark Cutts, the Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria crisis said: “Idlib’s nightmare is getting worse, we’ve witnessed one of the deadliest attacks on civilian areas since the outbreak of the fighting, almost three months ago.”
According to OCHA, the airstrikes have injured more than 100 women, children, and men, most of them in serious conditions.
In this context, the OCHA called for the protection of civilians, and stressed that the world cannot turn its back on them.
OCHA also reiterated its call on the parties of the conflict to abide by their obligations under the International Humanitarian Law and to take all necessary measures to protect civilians from any harms, and to protect all humanitarian workers, and to facilitate their work.