Idlib under 'violent' air strikes after talks fail

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Idlib under violent air strikes after talks fail

Al Muntar (Syria) - Russian air raids hit southern and southeastern areas of Idlib province.

By AFP

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Published: Sat 8 Sep 2018, 9:22 PM

Last updated: Sat 8 Sep 2018, 11:28 PM

Syria's last major rebel bastion Idlib was on Saturday targeted by the "most violent" Russian air strikes in a month, a monitor said, after the failure of a three-way summit on the Syrian conflict.
The renewed strikes came a day after the leaders of rebel backer Turkey and regime allies Russia and Iran failed at the summit in Tehran to agree on how to stave off a threatened offensive on the northwestern province of Idlib.
Aid organisations have warned that any military campaign to retake the region of nearly three million people on the Turkish border could spark one of the worst humanitarian disasters in Syria's seven-year war.
On Saturday, dozens of Russian air raids hit southern and southeastern areas of Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
At least four civilians including two children were killed in the strikes and as dozens of barrel bombs were dropped by regime aircraft, the Britain-based monitor said.
A correspondent in the southern village of Al Muntar saw huge clouds of grey smoke billow up above olive trees after a barrel bombing.
Women and children ran terrified across nearby fields, one woman appearing to clutch a baby in a blanket.
An elderly man sat out of breath, barefoot and dazed in the red earth, his walking cane by his side.
The raids prompted hundreds of families to take to the roads, as dozens of cars and trucks tried to ferry civilians away from the bombardment.


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