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Fresh strikes on Syria jihadist enclave kill 10
BEIRUT, May 29, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The latest in an unprecedented wave of
regime bombardment on a jihadist enclave in northwestern Syria killed at
least 10 civilians on Wednesday, a war monitor said.
Air strikes, some using deadly barrel bombs, and shelling by both
government and Russian warplanes have claimed a mounting civilian death toll
over the past few weeks.
The violence, which has rattled a fragile truce deal brokered by Moscow
and Ankara in September, is causing mass displacement and bringing Syria to
the brink of the worst humanitarian catastrophe yet in its eight-year-old
conflict.
At least 27 civilians died in similar circumstances on Tuesday, in the
single highest civilian death toll in the region since Damascus increased
attacks in late April.
On Wednesday, aerial bombardment did not relent.
According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
monitoring organisation, seven of Wednesday’s victims were killed in an air
raid on the village of Sarja.
It lies in Idlib province, most of which is controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-
Sham, a group dominated by former members of Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate.
The three other victims were a father and his two children in the village
of Bara, said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman.
“The bombardment by the regime and Russia continues to be intense on
several areas. The Russian strikes are focused on Khan Sheikhun but have not
caused any casualties for now,” he said.
The regime has not announced an all-out offensive to retake the entire
jihadist enclave, a large area which is home to almost three million people.
Analysts predict that the government of President Bashar al-Assad and its
allies will continue to chip away at the area but not unleash a major assault
that would create chaos on Turkey’s doorstep.
The regime is likely to continue applying sustained military pressure
whilst attempting to preserve a fragile truce agreement reached in Russia
last year to spare the region a large-scale humanitarian disaster.
The civilian death toll has mounted in and around Idlib in recent days,
reaching more than 270 over the past month, according to the Observatory.
In villages struck by regime raids, excavators dug new graves and
civilians buried the dead stealthily at dusk to avoid being targeted by more
air raids.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1456 hrs