The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Two rescuers among 14 civilians killed by Syria regime bombardment

Syrian regime bombardment killed at least 14 civilians, including two rescue workers in an ambulance and seven children, in embattled north-west Syria on Thursday, a Britain-based war monitor said.

The children were killed in various areas of the opposition-run Idlib province, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

A regime air strike targeted an ambulance in the town of Maaret al Noman, killing two rescue workers inside, in the latest deadly bombardment on the wider region.

A photographer at the scene saw a destroyed ambulance and rescuers carrying a wounded survivor from the vehicle.

The Benefsej aid organisation said two of its workers had been killed.

“It was a direct targeting of the ambulance, killing two” aid workers, said Fouad Issa, a member of the charity’s management board.

A woman also died in the ambulance while she was being transported for treatment, he added.

Regime bombardment killed at least 17 civilians in Idlib on Wednesday.

130 fighters killed in 48 hours in north-west Syria: monitor

Fighting raged on in the north-west on Thursday with clashes between regime forces and militants killing 130 combatants in two days, SOHR said.

The Idlib region, home to some three million people, is supposed to be protected by a months-old international truce deal, but it has come under increased bombardment by the regime and its Russian ally since late April.

On the south-western edges of the enclave holding out on the regime, bombardment and fierce fighting since Tuesday have killed 89 opposition fighters and left 41 dead on the regime’s side, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The fighting has centred around the village of Tal Meleh in the north of Hama province, according to the Britain-based monitoring group.

“The clashes are ongoing,” with both regime and Russian war planes pounding the area, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Russia and opposition backer Turkey brokered an agreement intended to stave off an all-out regime assault on Idlib in September, but that deal was never fully implemented as certain groups refused to withdraw from the planned buffer zone. The regime has used armed groups’ presence to justify indiscriminate bombardment of the region, killing and displacing civilians, each time.

The Syrian regime and Russia upped their bombardment of the region since late April, killing more than 400 civilians, according to the Observatory.

Source: Two rescuers among 14 civilians killed by Syria regime bombardment: monitor