The strikes continue in Syria. At least eight civilians, including five children, were killed on Tuesday (December 24th) in Russian air strikes on a village in the northwest of the country sheltering displaced people, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). .
According to the NGO, the strikes targeted the village of Joubass, on the outskirts of the locality of Saraqeb, in the south of the province of Idleb, killing civilians who had taken refuge in a school and its surroundings.
Since December 16, regime forces, supported by the Russian air force, have intensified their bombardments in this region while fierce ground fighting opposes them to jihadist and rebel groups.
>> Read also: In Syria, fighting intensifies in the Idleb region, tens of thousands of displaced people
Idleb children threatened by violence
About 80 civilians were killed in the new escalation. And, on Tuesday, UNICEF was alarmed by the "weight of the intensification" of this violence against the children of Idleb. Since Thursday, the regime's forces have taken control of some forty villages in the sector, said the OSDH, according to which these troops are now approaching a key city located in the south of Idleb province.
"The regime's forces are now four kilometers from Maaret al-Noomane," OSDH director Rami Abdel Rahmane, whose NGO has a large network of sources in the country, told AFP. In five days, the fighting left around 260 dead in both camps, including 110 members of the pre-regime forces and 148 jihadists and rebels, according to the OSDH.
However, jihadist and rebel fighters managed to regain control of Talamanas and an adjacent town on Tuesday, the source said. This did not prevent residents of Maaret al-Noomane from continuing to flee for fear of an advance by the regime's forces, an AFP correspondent on the spot said.
Over 40,000 people fleeing
According to the OSDH, more than 40,000 people have fled the fighting area in recent days, heading north, bordering Turkey.
The UN last week called for an "immediate de-escalation" in Idleb, warning of further mass displacement if the violence continues. The Idleb region, made up of a large part of the province of the same name and segments of the neighboring provinces of Aleppo and Latakia, is dominated by the jihadists of the group Hayat Tahrir al-Cham (HTS).
Other jihadist and rebel groups are present in this region, which is also home to some three million people, half of whom have been displaced from other areas of the country recaptured by Damascus.
The Syrian regime, which now controls more than 70% of the territory, has repeatedly said it is determined to reconquer Idleb. The bombing and ground fighting continued, killing more than 300 civilians and hundreds of combatants in almost four months.
"Humanitarian access must be maintained"
Russia and China vetoed Security Council on Friday draft resolution to extend UN cross-border humanitarian aid to four million Syrians, including residents of Idleb, for one year of a new humanitarian drama.
"Humanitarian access must be maintained to provide vital aid to hundreds of thousands of children everywhere," UNICEF said in a statement on Tuesday. "Nine years after the start of the war, children in Syria continue to suffer from indescribable violence, trauma and distress," said the UN agency for children.
Regime forces also surrounded an observation post held by Turkish forces in Idleb province on Monday, according to the OSDH.
>> Read also: In Syria, a Turkish observation post surrounded by regime forces in Idleb
The Turkish army is deployed there under an agreement concluded in 2018 between Moscow and Ankara, sponsor of the rebels, to avoid a Damascus offensive against this area.
With AFP
Newsletter Don't miss anything from international news
Don't miss anything from international newssubscribe
google-play-badge_FR