The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Idlib in 72 hours, More than 1,115 air and ground strikes killed 33 civilians, half of them women and children, with the ongoing displacement of thousands to the unknown

Regime and Russian warplanes renewed their bombardment on the area of “de-escalation” on Thursday morning, where Russian warplanes carried out raids on Maar-shamarin in the countryside of Ma’rat al-Numan, and the helicopters dropped barrel bombs on the outskirts of Jarjanaz town east of Idlib, as part of the escalating bombardment on the area, which left 33 civilians dead in the past 72 hours by hundreds of air and ground strikes.

Where air and ground bombardments was concentrated on the eastern countryside of Maarat al-Numan in Idlib province, where the Russian “guarantor” aircrafts carried out at least 97 air strikes in the last 72 hours, and the regime helicopters dropped 146 barrel bombs, while the regime warplanes carried out 74 raids, while regime forces targeted the area with more than 800 shells and rockets, in conjunction with continued military reinforcements of the regime forces to the southern, eastern and southeastern countryside of Idlib, forcing more civilian families to flee their areas, raising the number of civilians families who were forced to flee their areas to more than 60,000 civilians since the beginning of December, and the displacement from the eastern countryside of Maarat al-Numan (villages from Um Jalal to Masaran and from Maarat al-Numan to the vicinity of Abu al-Dhoor), as well as the towns and villages of Jabal al-Zawiya, south of Idlib city, and villages east of Saraqeb town in the eastern sector of the Idlib countryside.

While air and ground strikes have caused civilian and military casualties, the Syrian Observatory has reported the death and deaths of 38 people in the past 72 hours, including 5 fighters of “Ahrar al-Sham” faction, and 33 civilians, including 8 women and 7 children, as 7 of the civilians, including (3 children and 2 women) were killed by Russian warplanes, while the rest were killed by shelling of regime aircraft and its ground forces, while the death toll is expected to rise as more than 65 wounded, some of them in a serious condition, and the regime warplanes committed two massacres in Telmans and Masaran in the southeastern countryside of Idlib. In addition to a massacre in Bdama town in the western countryside of Idlib due to ground strikes from observatories in Latakia countryside, the Syrian Observatory also reported the deaths of at least 9 members of the regime forces and allied militants as a result of the targeting of factions and jihadist groups to their positions in the area of “Putin-Erdogan”.