Russian and Syrian jets killed at least 150 civilians and injured dozens in over a week of heavy bombing that shattered a six-month halt in intensive aerial raids in opposition-held northwestern parts of Syria, opposition rescue workers have said.
The renewed bombing campaign came after an array of radical opposition fighters led by the former Al-Qaeda offshoot in Syria last week waged a wide-scale offensive against regime-controlled areas in northern Hama.
“We have pulled 152 bodies and we have rescued 279 civilians since the Russian and regime bombing campaign,” said Salem Abu Al-Azem, a senior rescue worker from the opposition-run Civil Defense in Idlib, adding bodies were still being pulled out of the wreckage of buildings flattened by air raids.
Russia’s Defense Ministry says it is attacking hard-line militants. It denies accusations it has targeted infrastructure and medical centers to force opposition fighters into local truces that effectively restore President Bashar Assad’s grip on the country.
It denied allegations that Russian and Syrian jets had killed civilians in over a week of bombing, saying it had been careful not to hit civilians.
Civil defense officials and other humanitarian aid workers have documented the destruction of six hospitals, five defense centers, and power stations in the first few days of the bombing campaign alongside hitting camps where displaced civilians have been sheltering.
Opposition and witnesses easily differentiate Russian jets from Syrian planes with the former flying in sorties at high altitudes making drops with devastating impact.
The strikes began with intensive bombing of towns and cities in southern Idlib where the opposition fighters have a large presence but in recent days have spread to most towns across the province that borders Turkey.
Thousands of families have fled from towns such as Jisr Al-Shqour and Jabal Al-Zawya to rural areas less exposed to daily bombing and shelling, aid workers said.
The bombing campaign, however, comes shortly after a tripartite deal struck by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran to deploy an observer force in Idlib, a province where the former Al-Qaeda Syrian offshoot has cemented its control after it crushed opponents.
Meanwhile, France called on Russia to abide by commitments it had made to de-escalate violence in the area.
“These acts violate international humanitarian law,” Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne said in a statement. “France calls on Russia and the allies of the Damascus regime to respect the commitments made in Astana and to prevent these air strikes from continuing,” she added.