Syrian government shelling killed seven people, including four children, in a holdout rebel enclave in the country’s northwest Wednesday, according to activists and rescuers on the ground, per the Associated Press.
The attack was centered on Idlib and two nearby towns, the AP reports. 17 people were wounded by the shelling in and around Idlib, according to the White Helmets, an international volunteer rescue organization. (RELATED: Suspect In Vienna Shooting Tried To Join ISIS, Was Released From Prison Early After Terrorism Charges)
A shell that landed near an Idlib market killed one child, per the White Helmets, the Syrian Civil Defense, and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. World Vision, an international humanitarian group, reports the death toll as eight, including two of their own workers, per the AP.
Syrian rescuers and activists say at least seven people, including four children, were killed in government shelling of the last rebel enclave in the country’s northwest. https://t.co/s2hNUggMXa
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 4, 2020
The Syrian government and its allies resumed military operations in October as an eight-month peace agreement brokered by Russia and Turkey has fallen apart, the AP reported. Turkey has long backed the rebels against the Syrian government, while Russia has supported the Assad regime in Damascus. The northwestern rebel-held territory, with a population north of three million people, is the last part of the country not yet in government control, per the AP. Syria’s nine-year civil war has seen hundreds of thousands killed and million of refugees displaced, according to the AP.