Five civilians were killed in attacks by Assad regime forces on residential areas located inside northern Syria’s de-escalation zones, local sources said Thursday.
5 DEAD
In Kansafra and Bsekla, the attacks left five civilians dead, including a woman and two children, according to the White Helmets civil-defense agency.
Airstrikes targeting positions in Kafrnabuda and Bsekla were carried out by Russian warplanes stationed at the Khmeimim Airbase in the western Latakia province, opposition sources said.
In a related development, the National Liberation Front, a faction of the Free Syrian Army, reportedly managed to repel an advance on Kafrnabuda by regime ground forces.
Last September, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression would be strictly prohibited.
Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected severity.