Russia bombs rebel areas in Syria - News Block

Intensive airstrikes by Russia, an ally of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, have targeted the rebel-held northwestern Syria’s Idlib region since June 20. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), airstrikes on June 25 killed at least 13 people, including children, and one attack hit a fruit and vegetable market near Idlib. SOHR considers these attacks the deadliest since the beginning of the year. Our Observer, an Idlib resident, documented its impact through video.

Issued on: 06/28/2023 – 13:00Modified: 06/28/2023 – 13:01

Russian warplanes launched seven strikes on June 27 outside the village of Serjah in the Jabal Zawiya region south of Idlib, according to SOHR. The group did not detail whether the attacks caused any casualties.

The day before, our observer, Muhammad (not his real name), sent the FRANCE 24 Observers team a video showing him and his daughter in the village of Jabal Zawiya, devastated by consecutive attacks.

Our Observer sent us this video of her neighborhood in Jabal Zawiya, devastated by airstrikes, on June 27.

These airstrikes are part of an upsurge in Russian attacks on Idlib and neighboring Latakia since June 20.

Nine civilians, including two children, were killed and 30 people injured during an airstrike on a market on June 25 in Jisr al-Shughur, near the Turkish border.

“They were farmers who had come to sell their harvest (…). The attack took place on the eve of Eid al Adha (which is celebrated on July 1 in the Muslim world),” explains a member of the Civil Defense of Syria. , or “White Helmets,” in the video below.

Three rebel fighters were killed in these attacks on June 25.

The locals are used to it. They take refuge in underground tunnels and then return to their houses or tents.

Our observer Muhammad has been documenting the Russian attacks in the Jabal Zawiya region. He travels by moped, often accompanied by his three-year-old daughter. He lives just a few kilometers from the front line between rebel fighters and Syrian regime forces and their allies, including Iranian militias.

Since Saturday, June 24, the air attacks have intensified. It seems the end of the world. Sukhoi 24 and Sukhoi 29 aircraft. These aircraft often carry out attacks with cluster bombs and thermobaric bombs. I counted 20 explosions.

Syria: The Russian air strike on the vegetable market this morning was caught on camera. One bomb and in a second at least 12 civilians were killed and more than 30 injured. Urgent calls to provide blood to Jisr Shoghur hospitals as many are severely injured. Strike 3 days before Eid Adha. pic.twitter.com/pvA2al6Lve

— QalaatM (@QalaatM) June 25, 2023

A resident films a Russian attack on the Jisr al-Shughur market on Sunday, June 25.

Cluster munitions are prohibited by an international convention, to which Russia is not a party. As for the thermobaric bomb, its impact is considered much more devastating than that of conventional weapons.

The war has been going on for 12 years. The locals are used to it. They take refuge in underground tunnels and then return to their houses or shops when calm returns.

Some have dug holes in vacant lots and farmland to hide during shelling.

Putin does what he does best: massacre civilians. at least 11 #Sirius Civilians killed and 30 wounded in Russian shelling of a market in Jeser Alshaghour south of #Idlib. pic.twitter.com/BStO2GZDJE

— Dr. Zaher Sahloul (@sahloul) June 25, 2023

Video showing the arrival of an ambulance at the Jisr al-Shughur market, June 25.

Russian forces carried out the strikes in Idlib province in retaliation for rebel drone strikes that killed four civilians, including two children, last week, SOHR reported.

Part of Idlib province and small portions of neighboring Hama, Aleppo and Latakia provinces are controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTC), the former Syrian branch of al Qaeda.

More than 6 million internally displaced

Since March 2020, the region has been under a ceasefire that is broken periodically.

Russia, Syria’s ally for decades, is the main supporter of the Bashar al-Assad regime and has been intervening militarily in the country since 2015.

According to SOHR, the war in Syria has claimed more than half a million lives and displaced several million people.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), around 1.6 million people living in Idlib today are internally displaced, representing half of the province’s residents. In total, the country had almost 6.7 million internally displaced persons at the end of 2021, the most in the world.