IDLIB, Syria

At least five civilians were killed and seven others injured in Russian airstrikes targeting a tent camp in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, local sources said on Tuesday.

A Russian warplane took off from the Khmeimim Air Base in Latakia city and carried out an air attack at around 12:30 a.m. local time (0930GMT) on a camp, where forcibly displaced civilians took shelter, near the Hamame village in western Idlib, according to the Syrian opposition aircraft observatory.

The attack killed five civilians and injured seven others, including children, according to information obtained from the White Helmets civil defense organization.


The injured were referred to hospitals in Idlib by civil defense teams.

In September 2018, Türkiye and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone where acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

The Syrian regime and its allies, however, have consistently broken the terms of the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the zone.


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 Gozde Bayar