Syrian regime missile strikes hit a school in Sarmine, in Idleb province dominated by jihadists in the northwest of the country, on Wednesday. The attack killed at least nine civilians, including five children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
The shelling also injured 15 people. Despite a truce announced in August, the region has experienced renewed violence for several weeks. Bashar al-Assad's regime and its Russian ally are bombing the area, not to mention fighting between government forces and jihadists and rebels.
A deadly conflict that has been going on since 2011
According to the director of the OSDH, part of the school had been fitted out to accommodate displaced families. In December alone, some 284,000 people were displaced by bombing and fighting, according to the UN. Faced with the influx of people, "public buildings such as mosques, garages, wedding halls and schools" were used to accommodate families, the global body said.
Bashar al-Assad's regime said it was determined to reconquer the Idleb region, dominated by the jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al-Cham (HTS, former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda) and which also hosts rebel groups . Between late April and late August, government forces and the Russian air force intensified the bombing. This violence has killed nearly a thousand civilians in the area, according to the OSDH.
Triggered in March 2011 by the suppression of pro-democracy protests in Damascus, the conflict in Syria has left more than 370,000 people dead and millions of refugees and displaced persons. 2019 was the least deadly year, according to the OSDH, with "only" 11,215 deaths in the past twelve months.
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