Despite truce, Russian planes strike 5 towns in Syria

By Mohamed Misto

DAMASCUS

Russian warplanes struck targets in five towns in northern and central Syria on Sunday -- the second day of a cessation-of-hostilities agreement between Syria’s Assad regime and opposition forces.

Russian airstrikes targeted the opposition-held towns of Andan, Kfar Hamra, Daret Ezza and Qabtan al-Jabal, all of which are located in the northwestern Aleppo province.

One civilian was killed and several others injured in the attacks, according to activists and opposition sources on the ground.

Russian warplanes also carried out eight air raids on the village of Hur Bnafsa in the west-central Hama province.

"The raids [in Hur Bnafsa] were followed by mortar barrages and clashes between regime forces and opposition factions," one local source told Anadolu Agency.

According to the same sources, all the areas targeted by Russian warplanes on Sunday are held by the anti-regime Free Syrian Army.

Additionally, at least one other civilian was reportedly killed by regime gunfire in the southern Daraa province, while three other people were killed by regime snipers and mortar fire in Damascus.

A number of truce violations by regime forces have been reported in the Aleppo and Homs provinces and around the capital.

The cessation-of-hostilities agreement, brokered last week by the U.S. and Russia, came into effect midnight Friday local time.

Since then, however, at least 26 civilians have been killed by regime forces and their allies, according to the London-based Syrian Network for Human Rights.

Syria has remained locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which had erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than 250,000 people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to figures released by the UN.