Beirut: Syrian government forces shelled a rebel-held village in the country’s northwest on Wednesday, hitting a school and killing at least six people including children, opposition activists said.
The attack in Idlib province, the last rebel stronghold Syria, was part of an ongoing offensive in which Syrian troops have captured more than 40 villages and hamlets over the past two weeks.
Idlib is dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants and is also home to three million civilians. The United Nations (UN) has warned of the growing risk of a humanitarian catastrophe in the region, which lies along the Turkish border.
A war-monitoring group, the Britain-based ‘Syrian Observatory for Human Rights’, said a teacher and four students were killed in Wednesday’s government shelling of the village of Sarmin.
Hadi Abdullah, an Idlib-based opposition activist, gave a slightly higher death toll. He said seven people were killed, including a woman and four children. Different death tolls are common in the immediate aftermath of bombings.
Syrian troops have been bombarding parts of Idlib since last month, with the shelling and airstrikes intensifying since the ground offensive began, December 19.
Elsewhere in northern Syria, a car bombing n Wednesday in the town of Suluk, controlled by Turkey-backed opposition fighters, killed three people, according to Syrian state media and the Observatory.
Areas controlled by Turkey-backed fighters have witnessed several explosions, with dozens killed and wounded in the past weeks. Turkey has blamed Syrian Kurdish fighters for the attacks. They deny the charges.
AP