02 February 2018•Update: 02 February 2018
By Esref Musa and Burak Karacaoglu
IDLIB, Syria
Nine civilians were killed and another 21 injured by airstrikes carried out by the Assad regime in southern parts of Syria’s Aleppo province, according to the White Helmets, a pro-opposition civil-defense agency.
Ammar al-Sallum, the White Helmets chief in Aleppo, told Anadolu Agency that, shortly after Friday prayers, regime warplanes had targeted convoys carrying civilians fleeing Aleppo’s village of Tal Hidya.
Seven civilians lost their lives while another 18 were injured by the strikes, al-Sallum said, going on to assert that the regime and its allies appear to have stepped up their attacks in Aleppo’s southern countryside.
Another two civilians were killed by regime airstrikes in the nearby village of Kafr Halab, according to al-Sallum.
Notably, Aleppo falls within a network of de-escalation zones -- endorsed by Turkey, Russia and Iran -- in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.
In a related development Friday, regime forces also stepped up attacks in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta district, a suburb of Damascus.
According to an Anadolu Agency correspondent based in the region, regime attacks -- both by land and air -- have left at least seven people dead in the besieged district.
The Syrian regime has continued using internationally-banned weapons -- including cluster bombs -- in residential areas, according to reports.
