At least one civilian was killed on Sunday in attacks by the Syrian regime and pro-regime terrorist groups in Syria's northwestern Idlib de-escalation zone.

The regime and Iranian-backed terrorist groups have been firing artillery into the villages which are situated inside the de-escalation zone, the parameters of which were laid down in a recent agreement between Turkey and Russia.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Mustafa Hajj Youssef, director of the White Helmets civil-defense agency, said the attacks targeting Idlib's southwestern villages also left two civilians injured.

Youssef said that the wounded were taken to a nearby hospital.

After a meeting in Russia's coastal city of Sochi between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sept. 17, the two sides agreed to set up a demilitarized zone -- in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited -- in Idlib.

Under the terms of the deal, opposition groups in Idlib will remain in areas in which they are already present, while Russia and Turkey will carry out joint patrols in the area to prevent a resumption of fighting.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity. </s> There are concerns that the number of deaths could rise as the condition of some wounded civilians were critical

File photo shows civil defence members extinguishing a fire broke out after Russian air strikes hit Idlib's Ma’arrat al-Numan district, Syria on February 7, 2018. (AA)

At least seven civilians were killed in airstrikes carried out by Russian aircraft in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, local civil defense officials said Wednesday.

"During the airstrike attacks of the war planes in Ma'arrat Hurma village seven civilians were killed and 10 civilians injured, mostly women and children. In the Hass village the children and Nisa hospital was attacked," Mustafa Hajj Youssef, director of the White Helmets civil-defence agency said.

Youssef said that after search and rescue operations ended, the airstrikes started again.

There are concerns that the number of deaths could rise as the condition of some wounded civilians were critical, Youssef added.

Additionally an air observatory officer, Hilal Muhammad said that the war planes took off from Russia's Khmeimim Airbase in western Syria and conducted their first attack in southern Idlib's Urum al-Joz village after attacking Ma'arrat Hurma village.

Notably, Idlib falls within a network of de-escalation zones, endorsed by Turkey, Russia and Iran, in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

Controlled largely by anti-regime groups, Idlib has remained the target of intense airstrikes for the last two months. In January alone, 211 civilians were killed in the province while another 1,447 were injured.

During the airstrike attacks in Idlib's de-escalation zone at least six hospitals and health centres were also targeted.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.

Source: AA </s> Beirut: Artillery shelling by government forces pounded parts of the north-western Idlib province on Saturday, thwarting an infiltration attempt by militants as tension rises in the region following victories by al-Qaida-linked militants against Turkey-backed opposition fighters, Syria's state news agency reported.

The violence came as officials in neighbouring Turkey said efforts are being exerted to maintain stability in Idlib.

SANA said the shelling focused on the areas of Zarzour near the border with Turkey and Tamanaa near Maaret al-Numan that was taken this week by al-Qaida- linked militants from Turkey-backed opposition fighters. It reported casualties among the militants.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the government shelled six areas in and near Idlib province. </s> Terror groups opened mortar fire at a village in the Syrian province of Aleppo, leaving 12 people killed, a source in local police said.

According to police, the Sunday attack has also left 15 people injured. “The armed groups deployed in the Rashidin area on the outskirts of the city of Aleppo fired several projectiles at the southern suburb of Aleppo, which fell in the village of al-Wadihi,” the source said.

According to the source, the attack killed a Syrian serviceman and injured several women and children. The attack also caused significant property damage. Some of the injured people remain in critical condition, so the death toll may further increase, the source added.

Syria has been mired in a civil war since 2011, with the government forces fighting against numerous opposition groups as well as militant and terrorist organizations.

In late April, terrorists boosted the number of attacks on the Syrian provinces of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia. They also attempted to attack positions of the Syrian army in the region. The government forces responded by intensifying their attacks on terrorists remaining in Idlib. Last week, Russia initiated an agreement on the full cessation of hostilities in the Idlib de-escalation zone. </s> Assad regime forces attacked a Turkish observation point in Syria and it was retaliated with heavy weapons, Turkish Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

In a statement, the ministry said regime forces launched an artillery attack from Idlib region's Tall Bazan area to Murak area, where a Turkish observation point is situated.

It said the regime attack was "deliberate" and was retaliated with heavy weapons.

Partial material damage was reported, but without casualties.

The statement said necessary initiatives were taken with Moscow and the situation was being followed closely.

On Saturday, the Turkish military sent reinforcements to another observation point in Idlib near Zawiya, which was targeted by regime forces last week and left three Turkish soldiers wounded.

Although Turkey and Russia have agreed to stop acts of aggression and turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone, the Syrian regime has consistently violated the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the de-escalation zone.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials. </s> AMMAN (Reuters) - At least 544 civilians have been killed and over 2,000 people injured since a Russian-led assault on the last rebel bastion in northwestern Syria began two months ago, rights groups and rescuers said on Saturday.

Russian jets joined the Syrian army on April 26 in the biggest offensive against parts of rebel-held Idlib province and adjoining northern Hama provinces in the biggest escalation in the war between Syrian President Bashar al Assad and his enemies since last summer.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights,(SNHR), which monitors casualties and briefs various UN agencies, said the 544 civilians killed in the hundreds of attacks carried out by Russian jets and the Syrian army include 130 children. Another 2,117 people have been injured.

“The Russian military and its Syrian ally are deliberately targeting civilians with a record number of medical facilities bombed,” Fadel Abdul Ghany, chairman of SNHR, told Reuters.

Russia and its Syrian army ally deny their jets hit indiscriminately civilian areas with cluster munitions and incendiary weapons, which residents in opposition areas say are meant to paralyze every-day life.

Moscow says its forces and the Syrian army are fending off terror attacks by al Qaeda militants whom they say hit populated, government-held areas, and it accuses rebels of wrecking a ceasefire deal agreed last year between Turkey and Russia.

Last month U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said the Russian-Syrian joint military operation had used cluster munitions and incendiary weapons in the attacks along with large air-dropped explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated civilian areas, based on reports by first responders and witnesses.

Residents and rescuers say the two-month-old campaign has left dozens of villages and towns in ruins. According to the United Nations, at least 300,000 people have been forced to leave their homes for the safety of areas closer to the border with Turkey.

“Whole villages and towns have been emptied,” said Idlib-based Civil Defence spokesman Ahmad al Sheikho, saying it was the most destructive campaign against Idlib province since it completely fell to the opposition in the middle of 2015.

On Friday, 15 people, including children, were killed in the village of Mhambil in western Idlib province after Syrian army helicopters dropped barrel bombs on a civilian quarter, the civil defense group and witnesses said.

The heads of 11 major global humanitarian organizations warned at the end of last month that Idlib stood at the brink of disaster, with 3 million civilian lives at risk, including 1 million children.

FILE PHOTO: A street vendor sells toys next to rubble of damaged buildings in the city of Idlib, Syria May 25, 2019. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi/File Photo

“Too many have died already” and “even wars have laws” they declared, in the face of multiple attacks by government forces and their allies on hospitals, schools and markets,” the U.N.-endorsed statement said.

Last Thursday an aerial strike on Kafr Nabl hospital made it the 30th facility to be bombed durng the campaign, leaving hundreds of thousands with no medical access, according to aid groups.

“To have these medical facilities bombed and put out of service in less than two months is no accident. Let’s call this by what it is, a war crime,” Dr. Khaula Sawah, vice president of the U.S.-based Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, which provides aid in the northwest, said in a statement. </s> BEIRUT, LEBANON — Warplanes struck a hospital in Syria's northwestern Idlib province on Sunday, knocking it out of service, as government forces continued to bombard the rebel-held region following insurgent attacks last week.

The latest fighting has killed dozens of people and displaced tens of thousands in Idlib and nearby rebel-held areas, who fled to safer regions further north. It's the heaviest fighting in months, and has raised fears the government may launch a wider offensive to retake the country's last major rebel stronghold.

Attacks on hospitals and clinics in the past have preceded major government offensives on rebel-held areas, including the 2016 attack on rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo and last year's offensive on eastern suburbs of the capital, Damascus.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian warplanes were behind the attack on the main hospital in the rebel-held village of Hass. The opposition-run activist collective Baladi News also reported the airstrike on the hospital, adding that it was not clear if there were casualties.

The Observatory said that since the early hours of Sunday, Russian warplanes carried out more than 50 airstrikes on Idlib and nearby Hama province. It said government and Russia bombardment killed at least six people on Sunday in different rebel-held areas.

Turkey's Defense Ministry meanwhile said that two Turkish soldiers were wounded on Saturday when mortar shells fell near one of their positions in Hama province.

Turkey and Russia, who back opposite sides in Syria's eight-year conflict, brokered a truce in September that averted a government offensive on Idlib.

But the truce has been repeatedly violated, and parts of it have yet to be implemented, including the withdrawal of al-Qaida-linked militants from the front lines. Two major highways that cut through rebel-held areas were supposed to be reopened before the end of 2018 but remain closed.

The latest fighting erupted on April 30, three days after al-Qaida-linked militants launched attacks on the positions of government forces in northern Syria, killing 22 soldiers and pro-government gunmen.

“Any action taken by the Syrian Arab Army is legitimate since there has been no commitment to agreements reached,” a Syrian security official was quoted as saying by the government-run Syrian Central Military Media.

Pro-government media said insurgents shelled villages near the front lines, killing one civilian.

State news agency SANA quoted an unnamed Syrian military official as saying that insurgents are preparing to launch an offensive on government-held areas, warning that such an attack “would mark the beginning of their end.”

Government troops and insurgents have been reinforcing their positions in recent days in a sign that violence is expected to continue as Muslims mark the holy month of Ramadan beginning Monday. </s> At least six civilians were killed by regime airstrikes in Syria’s northwestern de-escalation zones, according to sources within the White Helmets civil-defense agency.

The attacks occurred in the towns of Khan Sheykhun, Jisr al-Shughour and Saraqib in Syria’s Idlib province, the sources said. According to the same sources, regime forces and Iran-backed terrorist groups also shelled the towns of Maarat al-Numan and Maarat Herma, along with the villages of Al-Kassabiyya, Abdin, Karasaa, Kafr Sajna and Al-Naqeer.

Some 1.5 million people currently reside in Idlib, half of whom have been displaced from their homes in other parts of the country.

Turkey and Russia agreed last September to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression would be expressly prohibited. The Syrian regime, however, has consistently broken the terms of the truce, staging frequent attacks inside the de-escalation zone. </s> Smoke and fire rise following reported Syrian government forces' bombardment on the town of Khan Sheikhun in the southern countryside of Idlib province, on June 6, 2019

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Beirut (AFP)

Nearly 100 combatants were killed on Friday in clashes between fighters loyal to Syria's government, rebels and jihadists in northwestern Syria, a war monitor said.

Starting at dawn on Friday morning -- and after bombing by the regime -- fighting in northern Hama province killed 51 government loyalists and allied militiamen, and 45 among the rebels and jihadists, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The clashes continued in the afternoon, the Britain-based Observatory said.

Backed by its ally Moscow, Damascus has since late April intensified bombardment of much of Idlib province and the parts of neighbouring Hama, Aleppo and Latakia where Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) holds sway.

Fighting has meanwhile taken place on the ground in parts of these anti-regime areas, particularly in northern Hama.

Syria's official SANA news agency also reported bombardment on Friday.

"Units of the army today carried out massive bombing at dawn.... on positions of the terrorist Al-Nusra Front in (and) around the villages of Jibine and Tal Maleh," SANA said, referring to positions held by HTS.

The bombardment led to "the destruction of the terrorists' fortifications and their lines of defence", it added.

They took place in response to attacks against the villages and cities in Hama, the news agency said.

Idlib and parts of neighbouring Hama, Aleppo and Latakia provinces were supposed to be protected by a buffer zone under an September agreement between Russia and Turkey.

But the region has come under increased bombardment by the regime and its Russian ally since HTS seized most of Idlib at the start of the year.

The Turkish defence ministry said Friday a Turkish soldier was killed and three others were wounded the day before by fire from Syrian government forces against a Turkish observation post in Idlib province.

Since late April, air strikes have killed 490 civilians, according to the Observatory, while fighting has killed 682 pro-regime forces and 821 rebels and jihadists.

The flare-up has also displaced 330,000 others, according to the United Nations, sparking fears of one of the worst humanitarian disasters in Syria's eight-year war.

The conflict in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it erupted in 2011 with the brutal repression of protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

? 2019 AFP
The Syrian government and pro-government militants fire artillery into villages inside the Idlib de-escalation zone, killing one civilian and leaving two civilians injured.