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50+ die in Syrian AF Raids in Idlib
[ARA News] IDLIB – At least 50 civilians were reportedly killed, including women and children, after warplanes loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hit the city of Maarrat al-Nu’man in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, local sources reported on Tuesday.

Speaking to ARA News in Idlib, media activist Mohammed Toufo said that pro-Assad warplanes targeted a popular market in downtown, killing dozens of people and injuring many others.

Local military sources confirmed that the Assad’s air force has used thermobaric missiles in Tuesday’s strike.

“The death toll has now reached 52 civilians, the figure could increase due to the large number of serious injuries in the airstrike,” Toufo reported, pointing out that the civil defense teams are still working lift more victims who remained trapped under the rubble.

Ramiz Ibrahim, a medical source in the field hospital in Maarrat al-Nu’man, told ARA News that the number of the injured has been dramatically increasing in the hospital.

“The death toll is likely rising with the critical cases amid severe shortage of medical equipment,” the source said.

Speaking to ARA News in Idlib, media activist Ahmad Saeed confirmed that the pro-Assad warplanes launched four airstrikes on the popular market overcrowded with civilians in Maarrat al-Nu’man.

“The rescue teams are still searching for survivors under the reins of destroyed buildings,” Saeed reported.

Also on Tuesday, pro-regime warplanes hit the fish market in the town of Kafr Nabl in the southern suburbs of Idlib, causing the death of seven civilians and the injury of 22 others, activists told ARA News.

In the meantime, the opposition’s coordinator at the Geneva talks, Riad Hijab, emphasized on Tuesday that it was unacceptable for talks to go on while the regime and its allied militias continued their sieges and bombing civilian areas, vowing to fight “even with stones” to depose President Bashar al-Assad.
Posted by: badanov 2016-04-20
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=453175