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Rebel fire kills 5 civilians in Syria regime town: state media
DAMASCUS, May 12, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Rebel rocket fire killed four children
and a woman Sunday in a regime-held town outside the embattled jihadist
bastion of Idlib in northwest Syria, state news agency SANA said.
The bombardment by “terrorist groups” on the Christian-majority town of
Suqaylabiyah in Hama province also wounded six other children, SANA said,
using its term for rebels and jihadists.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rockets had been fired
from the nearby Idlib region, which is controlled by former Al-Qaeda
affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
The Britain-based war monitor said it was unclear whether HTS or other
insurgent groups were behind the attack.
That region of some three million people is supposed to be protected from
a massive regime assault by a September buffer zone deal signed by government
ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey.
But Damascus and its allies have upped their deadly bombardment of the
edges of the jihadist bastion in recent weeks, killing dozens and causing
tens of thousands to flee, according to the Observatory.
They have also taken several towns this week from the jihadists near
Suqaylabiyah.
UN-linked aid groups have suspended activities in parts of the Idlib
region, as the increased violence since late April has jeopardised the safety
of humanitarian workers.
The uptick in air strikes and shelling also displaced 180,000 people
between 29 April and 9 May, according to the UN.
The civil war in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced
millions since it started with the brutal repression of anti-government
protests in 2011.
BSS/AFP/FI/1922 hrs