5 dead, 38 injured in Idlib after Syrian army artillery attack

By Esref Musa, Ahmet Karaahmet and Mehmet Burak Karacaoglu

IDLIB, Syria (AA) - Five people were killed and 38 injured Thursday from a heavy artillery attack in the rural region of Idlib by the Syrian army.

Artillery units targeted Jisr al-Shughur and Ariha districts of Idlib province, as well as the villages of Mozara, Sarrin, Hanbushiyeh, Mahmbel, Bara, Al-Majdal and Deir Simbel.

The dead include one child and a woman, according to information obtained from the White Helmets civil defense.

Eight children and the same number of women were among the injured, who were transported to nearby hospitals.

In a separate attack after midnight by the army on the village of Kafriya in the western rural area of Aleppo, five civilians were killed and one was injured, bringing casualties to 10 killed and 39 injured in attacks by the army on Idlib and Aleppo.

- Situation in Idlib

In Astana, Kazakhstan meetings in 2017, Türkiye, Russia and Iran decided to establish four "de-escalation zones" in areas not under control of the Syrian government.

The Damascus regime, backed by Iran and Russia, continued to attack, capturing three of the four zones before turning to Idlib.

Although Türkiye reached an additional agreement with Russia in September 2018 to reinforce a cease-fire agreement, attacks escalated again in May 2019.

Following the new deal between Türkiye and Russia on March 5, 2020, the cease-fire has been largely maintained.

Between 2017 and 2020, approximately 2 million civilians, who fled the attacks, were forced to migrate to areas near the Turkish border.

*Writing by Alperen Aktas from Istanbul