Russian, Syrian troops step up attacks on rebel-held areas

AMMAN: Russian and Syrian forces intensified air strikes and shelling in northwestern Syria overnight in the heaviest assault on the last rebel-held area since it was declared a demilitarised zone under a Russian-Turkish deal, sources said on Thursday.

The targeted villages and towns in northern Hama and southern Idlib fall within a buffer zone agreed last September between Russia and Turkey as part of a deal which averted a major offensive on the area.

Earlier this week Washington warned violence in the buffer zone “will result in the destabilisation of the region”.

Since Tuesday the Russian and Syrian military attacks have forced thousands of civilians to flee to camps further north along the Turkish border and damaged four medical facilities, according to Idlib civil defence officials and a US medical aid organisation working in the area.

“Medical facilities are being evacuated, leaving the most vulnerable with no access to medical care. We are on the edge of a humanitarian catastrophe,” Khaula Sawah, Vice-President of the US-based Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations -USA (UOSSM US) said in a statement on Wednesday.

Syrian army helicopters have dropped barrel bombs, which are drums or cylinders packed with explosives and shrapnel that cause indiscriminate destruction, killing at least 15 civilians and injured dozens, rescuers in Idlib province said.

— Reuters