Beirut (AFP)

Fifteen civilians, including six children, were killed on Friday in air raids by the regime and its Russian ally, including on an IDP camp in northwestern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Man (OSDH).

A strike on an IDP camp near the town of Hass in southern Idleb Province left 13 dead, including four children, while raids in different areas of the region, dominated by jihadists, killed two people. children, the NGO said.

Most of Idleb province and segments of neighboring Aleppo, Hama and Latakia still escape the control of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, eight years after the start of the war.

This area, dominated by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS, former Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) but which is also home to some rebel groups, has been targeted since the end of April for almost daily bombardments by the regime and its ally. Russian.

For several days, the pro-regime forces have progressed on the ground and hope to take over the city of Khan Cheikhoun, which is on the highway that runs through Idleb and connects the capital Damascus to the metropolis of Aleppo (north), both under control government.

On Friday, fighting killed 13 pro-government forces and 18 among jihadists and rebels, said the OSDH, which has an extensive network of sources in Syria.

Since the beginning of the military escalation, more than 820 civilians have died in the bombings, according to the OSDH. And more than 400,000 people have been displaced, according to the UN, which says it is afraid of a humanitarian "catastrophe".

Dozens of families have fled to the north of the region in recent days, according to AFP correspondents there.

The Idleb region has been agreed on a "demilitarized zone" concluded in September 2018 by rebel sponsor Ankara and Moscow. But this one was only partially applied, the jihadists having refused to withdraw.

Triggered in 2011 after the bloody repression by the regime of Bashar al-Assad of pro-democracy demonstrations, the war in Syria has claimed more than 370,000 lives and thrown into the exile of millions of people.

© 2019 AFP