Regime shelling leaves 5 civilians injured in northwestern Syria

By Anadolu staff

IDLIB, Syria (AA) – At least five civilians were injured on Sunday in a shelling by the regime forces on the countryside of Idlib province in northwestern Syria.

The regime forces and Iran-backed foreign terrorist groups targeted the village of Sarmin in eastern Idlib, an Anadolu correspondent reported.

The injured people were evacuated to hospitals for medical treatment, local resources said.

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

Despite the agreement, the Assad regime, supported by Iranian-backed militants and Russia, continued attacks, seizing three of the four designated zones and turning its focus toward Idlib.

While Türkiye and Russia reached an additional agreement in September 2018 to reinforce the cease-fire, attacks escalated again in May 2019.

Following a new agreement between Türkiye and Russia in March 2020, the cease-fire has largely held.

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

Syria has been embroiled in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN estimates.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio