ZCZC
BFF-25
SYRIA-CONFLICT-IDLIB
Air raids kill 12 civilians in jihadist-held Syrian town: monitor
BEIRUT, May 22, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Air strikes by Damascus or its ally Moscow
killed 12 civilians in a market in Syria’s Idlib province, a monitor said
Wednesday, as fierce fighting raged for the jihadist-held northwestern
region.
Another 18 people were wounded when the warplanes hit the jihadist-held
town of Maarat al-Numan around midnight (2100 GMT) on Tuesday, the Britain-
based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The market was crowded with people out and about after breaking the daytime
fast observed by Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.
The strikes came as heavy clashes raged in the north of neighbouring Hama
province after the jihadists launched a counterattack on Tuesday against pro-
government forces in the town of Kafr Nabuda.
Fresh fighting on Wednesday took the death toll to 52 — 29 troops and
militia and 23 jihadists, the Observatory said.
It said that the jihadists had retaken most of the town from government
forces who recaptured it on May 8.
The jihadist-dominatedIdlib region is nominally protected by a buffer zone
deal, but the regime and its Russian ally have escalated their bombardment of
it in recent weeks, seizing several towns on its southern flank.
A jihadist alliance led by Syria’s former Al-Qaeda affiliate, Hayat Tahrir
al-Sham, controls a large part of Idlib province as well as adjacent slivers
of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces.
Russia and rebel ally Turkey inked the buffer zone deal in September to
avert a government offensive on the region which threatened humanitarian
disaster for its three million residents.
President Bashar al-Assad’s government has renewed its bombardment of the
region since HTS took control in January.
Russia too has stepped up its air strikes in recent weeks as Turkey proved
unable to secure implementation of the truce deal by the jihadists.
The Observatory says more than 180 civilians have been killed in the flare-
up since April 30, and the United Nations has said tens of thousands have
fled their homes.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1420 hrs