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Air raids kill first civilian in Syria’s Idlib since truce
AL-DAHER, Syria, Sept 11, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Russian air strikes on
northwest Syria killed an elderly man overnight, the first such casualty
since Moscow declared a ceasefire in the jihadist-run region on August 31, a
war monitor said.
The truce, which brought a halt to four months of devastating bombardment
by the government and its ally Russia on Idlib province, had held despite
persistent skirmishes on the ground.
But on Tuesday, Russia carried out its first air strikes in the area since
the ceasefire began, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Bombardment continued before dawn on Wednesday in the village of Al-Daher
where a 75-year-old man was killed, the Britain-based monitor said, adding
that the air raids had since stopped.
The victim — Ahmad Issa al-Moussa — had been displaced to Idlib from
Syria’s second city of Aleppo several years ago, an AFP correspondent said.
“We were asleep… when we heard the sound of a missile falling 50 metres
away,” said Abu Anas, the victim’s son.
The 31-year-old man said his father was slow to evacuate their home
because of difficulty walking. He died when a second air strike hit two
metres away from him, the son added.
The truce was the second such agreement between the Syrian government and
jihadists since August 1. The previous one collapsed after just a few days.
The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria affiliate
controls most of Idlib as well as parts of neighbouring Aleppo and Latakia
provinces.
The region of around three million people is one of the last holdouts of
opposition to forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1459 hrs