BRUSSELS

Top EU officials urged on Thursday for "bombings and attacks on civilians" in northwest Syria to stop.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Janez Lenarcic, the European commissioner for crisis management, said all parties should respect international humanitarian law, including granting access for humanitarian aid and protecting civilians,

In a joint statement, Borrell and Lenarcic said the "extraordinary human suffering" of the people near the province of Idlib was "unacceptable."

The EU pledged to continue to provide humanitarian assistance to support the most vulnerable people inside Syria and in neighboring countries.

In the statement, they stressed that hundreds of civilians had been killed with more than 500,000 fleeing their homes over the past months due to intensified military operations.

They added that attacks continued against civilian targets "in densely populated areas, medical facilities and settlements for internally displaced people," with displaced people suffering poor living conditions amid harsh winter conditions while unable to meet even their basic needs.

Idlib has been a stronghold of opposition and anti-government armed groups since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

It is currently home to some four million civilians, including hundreds of thousands displaced in recent years by regime forces throughout the war-weary country.

Despite a cease-fire deal brokered by Turkey and Russia in 2018 to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone, the Syrian regime and its allies have consistently broken the terms of the cease-fire, killing at least 1,300 civilians since the agreement.