The Russian Defense Ministry has denied reports of deaths of 150 civilians in Syria's Idlib as result of Russian airstrikes.Russia denies reports suggesting that 150 civilians died in Syria's Idlib as a result of Russian airstrikes, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Thursday.Konashenkov said that Russian planes did not carry out airstrikes in Syria's residential neighbourhoods , adding that they were focused on hardware, reserves and al-Nusra Front militants.According to Konashenkov, Russian Aerospace Forces' airstrikes in Syria's Idlib derailed an operation of al-Nusra Front, which was trying to rescue militants from encirclement in Hama.On Wednesday, Reuters reported citing opposition rescue workers that Russian and Syrian planes killed at least 150 civilians and injured dozens in in an over a week-long campaign in Idlib. </s> BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say Russian and Syrian aircraft have stepped up their assaults on the rebel-held province of Idlib, a day after air raids killed more than 60 people.

The activist-run Local Coordination Committees is reporting airstrikes on the towns of Binnish, Maarat Nasaan, and Saraqib, as well as the provincial capital, Idlib.

The network says the Monday morning airstrikes killed three children. It blamed the attacks on Russian aircraft.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported strikes on Idlib city. It says 288 civilians have been killed in the province since Oct. 20, when Syrian government and Russian aircraft intensified airstrikes.

The Syrian Civil Defense first responder group said 65 civilians were killed in Sunday airstrikes across the province, including attacks on two rural marketplaces that killed dozens. </s> A Syrian monitor says at least 16 people have died in airstrikes on a prison in northwestern Syria.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Saturday said prisoners and staff were killed in the strikes in the rebel-held city of Idlib.

The Observatory says it has received reports that some of those killed were fleeing after the airstrikes and were shot by prison staff members.

Idlib is an opposition stronghold where Russian warplanes have been known to carry out strikes in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Since 2011, the conflict in Syria has killed 400,000 people, wounded more than 1 million and displaced half the country's population. </s> BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian first responders say they have tallied 22 civilian fatalities from a presumed Russian or Syrian government airstrike on the rebel-held city of Idlib.

The Civil Defense search-and-rescue group, also known as the White Helmets, said 15 children have been reported killed by the pre-dawn airstrike today in northwest Syria. It said its rescuers had been working all day to reach victims in the rubble.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported 21 civilians killed. It said the aircraft behind the attack were believed to be Russian. Syrian government aircraft are also known to fly raids over Idlib. The attack occurred in the city's Qasour neighborhood. </s> AMMAN, Feb 7 (Reuters) - At least 30 people died in air strikes on the rebel-held Syrian city of Idlib on Tuesday, in some of the heaviest raids there in months, witnesses and rescue workers said.

Around eight attacks by what witnesses believed to be Russian jets wounded scores of people and leveled several multi-storey buildings in residential areas of the northwestern city, they added.

Russia's Defence Ministry later said media reports that its planes had bombed Idlib were not true, Interfax news agency reported.

Two rescue workers said the death toll was at least 30. The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 26 people were killed and casualties were expected to rise as rescue workers searched for bodies under the rubble.

Video footage by activists on social media showed civilians, including young children, being treated in a main city hospital where the injured had been rushed for treatment.

"We are still pulling bodies from the rubble," said Issam al Idlibi, a volunteer civil defence worker.

The extent of the damage and the debris bore the hallmarks of a Russian attack, two witnesses said.

Russian planes have targeted a number of towns and villages in the area since entering the Syrian conflict in September 2015 to back ally President Bashar al-Assad.

But activists and residents also said there had been a reduction of Russian strikes in Idlib province since a Turkish-Russian brokered cessation of hostilities late December.

Planes from the U.S.-led coalition have also launched a number of attacks in the rural province, a major stronghold of jihadists, many of them formerly affiliated to al Qaeda.

Idlib's population has been swollen by thousands of Syrian fighters and their families evacuated from villages and towns around Damascus and Aleppo city, which was retaken by the government in recent months.

Separately, at least four people were killed in air strikes by unknown jets in the town of Arbin in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, northeast of the capital. The Syrian army and pro-government militias have been seeking in recent days to gain new ground there. </s> BEIRUT (AP) — Airstrikes in Syria killed 17 people, mostly children today when warplanes struck a school complex in the northern rebel-held province of Idlib, activists said.

The Idlib News network said the strikes hit as the children were gathered outside the school complex in the village of Hass. The activist-operated group put the death toll at 17, and said most of the victims were children.

There were fears the death toll could rise further as some of the wounded were reported to be in critical condition, the network added. Another activist group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 22. It said 14 children and a woman were among those killed.

Idlib is the main Syrian opposition stronghold, though radical groups also have a large presence there. It has regularly been hit by Syrian and Russian warplanes as well as the U.S.-led coalition targeting Islamic State militants.

Footage posted by activists on line shows a huge plume of smoke rising from the area of the strikes. Rescuers are seen rushing casualties away along a dusty road lined with destroyed buildings.

A woman's body is seen being carried on a stretcher while other bodies, covered in cloth and one with only a hat, are lying under shrubs in what could possibly have been a garden among the buildings. Other casualties are seen being ferried in pickup trucks. </s> Last week, Russia reported a failed push by al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front out of Idlib Province into Syrian government territory in Hama. In the course of repelling them, Russia claimed some 850 Nusra fighters were slain.

What followed since then was an increase in airstrikes against Idlib Province territory by both Syrian and Russian warplanes. The opposition Civil Defense group is now reporting 152 civilians killed in the course of those strikes.

The accuracy of either of those figures is impossible to prove, and both the Russian military and the Civil Defense have a history of hard to believe high death tolls in incidents that no one else seems to have documented as being nearly so massive.

Still, airstrikes have been confirmed to escalate in Nusra-held parts of Idlib, and given that includes residential areas, it’s highly probable those strikes have meant substantial civilian deaths and injuries. As with so much of the war, however, true numbers may never be known.
• After Mattis Targeted, US Airstrike in Kabul Causes Civilian Casualties - September 27th, 2017
• US Promises to Deploy 'Strategic' Military Assets Near Korean Peninsula - September 27th, 2017 </s> Idlib (Syria News) Civilians were either killed or wounded, on Thursday, in air strikes carried out by Russian warplanes on Khan Sheikhon City, in southern Idlib.

Qasioun News reported that Russian warplanes conducted air strikes on the city of Khan Sheikhon, in southern Idlib, killing three civilians and wounding others.

Furthermore, Syrian regime warplanes carried out air strikes and dropped explosive barrels on the villages of Tariya and Tahtaya, in southern Idlib, causing material damage but no casualties were reported.

Syrian and Russian warplanes are intensifying their air strikes for the third day, where more than 140 air strike were conducted on the towns of Idlib and Hama.

Meanwhile, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and other opposition militias are carrying out military operations on the Syrian army locations, in northern Hama, and managed to capture several headquarters near the city of Maan. </s> By AFP

LEBANON: At least 14 children were among 21 people killed in an air strike in Syria's northwestern Idlib province at dawn on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

The monitor said the strikes were believed to have been carried out by Russian warplanes on the provincial capital Idlib city, which is controlled by jihadists and their Islamist rebel allies.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information, says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.

An AFP correspondent at the scene saw two buildings completely destroyed, adding that the buildings had been housing people displaced from Aleppo province.

Local civil defence workers used bulldozers and their hands to clear large mounds of rubble.

Yahya Arjah, a member of the White Helmets group, said they had pulled two people alive from the rubble.

The Observatory said the strikes hit the Al-Qasur neighbourhood of the city, which is the capital of surrounding Idlib province.

It said 14 of the dead were members of a single family, and also said the dead included people displaced from the north of Aleppo province, which neighbours Idlib.

More than 320,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began six years ago with anti-government protests.

Russia began a military intervention in Syria in September 2015, and in the past has dismissed allegations of civilian deaths in its strikes.
At least 21 people are killed in suspected Russian airstrikes on Idlib, Syria.