Beirut: Syrian air strikes and artillery shelling on rebel strongholds in the southern countryside of Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib intensified shortly after midnight Friday, killing at least four people and wounding 50 others, activists and a monitoring group said.
“The air strikes which are being carried out by the Syrian regime and Russian planes targeted areas in Khan Sheikoun, Latamineh, Al Tah, Al Ass, Um Jalal and Al Darabla,” activist Ibrahim al Idlibi said.
The activist said that strikes and shelling targeted the countryside of Idlib and also the countryside of Hama as well as areas in the countryside of Aleppo.
He added that heavy shelling especially on the southern countryside of Idlib has destroyed at least 50 houses.
Meanwhile, Qusay Noor, an activist based in Idlib, said that all schools and offices assigned to the Directorate of Education in Idlib were asked to close for three days starting on Saturday, due to the intensive shelling. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian planes carried out some 46 strikes on the southern countryside of Idlib.
It added that artillery shelling on the al Tah and Khan Sheikhoun areas has killed four people and wounded 50 others. It added that most of the wounded were from Khan Sheikhoun.
For months, the Syrian army has been preparing a wide-scale offensive on Idlib. With the liberation of most areas in southern Syria by government troops this month, the province has become one of the last anti-government strongholds in Syria.
Idlib province is largely controlled by Hayat Tahrir al Sham, an alliance led by an Al Qaeda-linked group.
Over the last three years, militants from Aleppo, Eastern Ghouta, South Deraa province and other regions have evacuated to Idlib regions under agreements with the Syrian government.
UN envoy Jan Egeland called on Thursday on Syria’s warring parties and regional powers to avoid an escalation of the conflict in the north-west of the country that has become a haven for hundreds of thousands of displaced people from other Syrian regions.
Last Month Syrian President Bashar al Assad estimated that Idlib province was now home to “tens of thousands of terrorists” and said that the region was among the priority areas for the Syrian military’s operations. — DPA
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