1 killed in attacks on Syria's de-escalation zones

ANKARA

One civilian was killed and six others were injured in regime attacks on residential areas in Syria’s northern de-escalation zones, local sources said on Tuesday.

Rocket and mortar attacks by regime forces and allied Iran-backed foreign terrorist groups targeted Idlib province's Hobait village, Hama province's Qalaat Al-Madiq town and the villages of Kafrnabuda, Al-Huwaiz, Al-Huwaija, Al-Tuwayna and Al-Kirkat, the sources said.

One civilian lost his life in Kafrnabuda and six others were injured in Hobait and Al-Huwaiz villages, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

A health center was targeted by a regime warplane in Hobait village which left it out of service, according to the same sources.

A school has also been targeted by an airstrike in Idlib province's Al-Kassabiya village.

According to the Syrian opposition aircraft observatory, airstrikes on Kafrnabuda and Al-Kassabiya villages have been carried by Russian jets which took off from the Khmeimim airbase in Syria’s western Latakia province.

Last September, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression would be strictly prohibited.

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 severity.

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat