Syria regime airstrikes kill 6, including woman, her child – report

BEIRUT — Airstrikes target Syria’s last major rebel stronghold in the northwestern province of Idlib on Monday, killing six people, including a woman and her child, a war monitor says.

The attacks come as Syrian government forces turn their focus on another rebel-held town in Idlib, Maaret al-Numan, following gains they made last week. The troops have been on the offensive since April 30, and have also captured all rebel-held areas in the adjoining Hama province, as well as the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib. From the town, they are now pushing north.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the airstrikes killed six people in Idlib, including three in the village of Basqala on the southern edge of the province. Among the three killed in Basqala were a woman and her child, it says.

Maaret al-Numan sits on the highway linking Damascus with the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest. Government forces are trying to eventually open that highway. The months of fighting have also displaced more than half a million toward northern parts of Idlib, already home to some 3 million people.

This photo released by the activist-operated Thiqa News Agency, shows smoke rising after airstrikes hit the town of Ihsem, in Idlib province, Syria, August 26, 2019. (Thiqa News Agency via AP)

— AP