Intensive Syrian Air Force airstrikes target Idlib and Hama countryside
Idlib – North-Press Agency
The Syrian Air Force has carried out sporadic raids on cities, towns, and villages in the governorates of Idlib and Hama within the de-escalation zones, coincide with the ongoing escalation in the region despite international calls for stabilization.
Syrian Airstrikes targeted the areas of Khan Shaykhun, Hesh, Habeet and Madaya in the southern countryside of Idlib, on Friday morning, while shelling hit the villages of al-Jibeen, Kafr Zita, Zakat, Hasraya and al-Arbaeen in northern Hama.
While the Syrian opposition armed groups bombed a position of the Syrian government forces on the Hardaneh front in northern Hama, causing casualties among government forces, according to field intersecting sources.
The number of victims of the escalation in the last 24 hours amounted to approximately 22 persons, including 9 children, and two volunteer women in a relief organization were killed in an airstrike on al-Mastumah, Hesh, Ma`arat al-Numan, Kafar Sijnah, Ma’arrat Misrin, Alamerea, Termla, al-Bara, and Kafr Zita.
The death toll might rise because there are about 30 wounded; some of them have serious injuries.
The shelling also caused extensive damage and destruction to the infrastructure in the targeted areas.
The escalation comes amid Russian efforts to hold a new round of Astana talks in the capital of Kazakhstan (renamed as Nur-Sultan) in the coming period, as the Russian President’s special envoy recently visited Beirut, Baghdad, and Damascus to prepare for the talks.
Putin’s envoy for the region called on Iraq and Lebanon to participate as observers in the upcoming Astana talks, following calls by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the guarantors of de-escalation agreement to work on “Achieving security and stability”.