Since late April, the Syrian regime and Russia have stepped up deadly raids on the Idlib region of three million people.
The bombardment on the jihadist-held bastion has killed hundreds, pounded health centers and schools, and caused more than 330,000 people to flee their homes.
On Thursday, Russian air strikes killed seven civilians -- including one child -- in the bastion, most in and around the town of Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
And regime air raids killed five civilians -- including two children -- in neighboring Aleppo province, the Britannia-based monitor said.
The bastion under aerial attack is made up of a large part of the Idlib province, as well as slivers of the adjacent governorates of Aleppo, Hama, and Latakia.
More than 730 civilians have been killed there in air strikes and ground-to-ground fire by the Damascus government and its allies since late April.
The bombardment has increased in intensity in recent weeks, with the toll of almost 50 civilians on Monday alone -- the majority in air strikes on a busy market.
Syria's political opposition Thursday condemned "on average at least a massacre a day" in the embattled stronghold.
A September accord struck between Moscow and Ankara was supposed to protect the region, but it was never fully implemented after jihadists refused to withdraw from a planned buffer zone.
| Oh. Why then blame the Assad government for continuing a war the jihadi rebels demand? |
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...-- a group led by Syria's former al--Qaeda affiliate -- took over administrative control.
Outside the bastion, rebel and jihadist rocket fire has also killed non-combatants -- but in far lower numbers.
Since late April, retaliatory rocket fire has killed around 70 civilians in nearby government-held territory.
| Ynet summarizes: |
The strikes hit opposition-held territory in Idlib, Aleppo and Hama provinces that is home to 3 million people.
Syrian Civil Defense rescuers, known as White Helmets, reported that four people killed in the village of Kfar Rouma and the town of Maaret Numan in Idlib, while five were killed in Aleppo province's town of Atareb and al-Bawabiya village.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the corpse count in those four areas at 11, and said one more person was killed in Hama.