[ad_1]
BEIRUT (AFP) – The Russian regime and planes shelled Sunday the last rebel stronghold of Idlib in Syria with missiles and barrel bombs, killing at least two children, a leader said.
It was the second day of bombing on the province and adjacent areas under the control of jihadists and rebels, after the main government in Tehran had failed to reach an agreement to avoid a government attack.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a surveillance group based in Britain, said that serious attacks resumed in the northwestern region, near the Turkish border, around noon.
"The regime's helicopters dropped more than 60 barrel bombs on the village of Hobait in the southern Idlib countryside," said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman.
The raids killed at least two children and injured six others.
In the neighboring province of Hama, Russian jets made more than 10 strikes on rebel positions in the village of Al-Latamneh, he added.
The raids wounded five rebels and dropped the village's underground hospital, just one day after strikes damaged a similar health facility in the southern city of Hass.
The strikes calmed down later Sunday, the Observatory said.
According to the Observatory, some of the most violent bombings struck Saturday Idlib and surrounding areas, killing at least nine civilians.
More than half of Idlib is owned by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an alliance led by the former Syrian subsidiary of Al Qaeda, the bulk of which is owned by rival rebels. . The diet controls a piece of the southeast.
HTS and rebels are also present in adjacent areas of neighboring provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia.
Hundreds of families have fled the southeastern regions of Idlib since Saturday, when Russian and regime strikes in the region were the most violent in a month, according to the Observatory.
The United Nations has warned that any military campaign in Idlib could drive up to 800,000 people to flee their homes.
Leaders of the regime's allies, Russia and Iran, met with the Turkish president in Tehran on Friday, but failed to agree to avoid a military assault.
According to the UN, the region of Idlib, held by rebels, and adjacent areas are home to nearly three million people, half of whom have been displaced from other parts of the country.
For weeks, the regime's troops have been massing around Idlib, after the regime of President Bashar al-Assad had regained control of other parts of the country earlier this year.
More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the start of the civil war in 2011, with the brutal crackdown on anti-Assad protests.
