Six civilians killed after regime force bombardment

Bombardments by the Syrian regime killed six civilians in northwest Syria yesterday, hours after US President Donald Trump urged Damascus and its allies to “stop bombing the hell” out of the militant-held region.Trump’s call came after US ally Israel carried out a series of strikes against Syria at the weekend, leaving at least 15 dead among pro-government forces, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.The bombardment by Damascus and its ally Moscow of Idlib province and neighbouring areas has killed more than 300 people since late April, according to the Observatory, a Britain-based war monitor.It also displaced nearly 270,000 people in May alone, according to the UN.Russia yesterday blocked a UN Security Council statement criticising Syria’s military campaign in the Idlib region.In a note seen by AFP, Moscow said the proposed statement was “unbalanced” because it did not mention the eastern Syrian towns of Hajin or Baghouz, where civilians suffered during a US-backed, Kurdish-led offensive against the Islamic State group.The violence in and around Idlib, which comes despite a truce deal brokered by Russia and Turkey in September, has raised fears of a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale yet unseen in Syria’s eight-year conflict, which has already claimed more than 370,000 lives.The Kremlin insisted yesterday that the Russian army was only targeting “terrorists” in Syria’s Idlib region, which is controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group dominated by former members of Al Qaeda’s Syria affiliate.It accused them of firing at civilians and Moscow’s troops.“Terrorist fire in Idlib is of course unacceptable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.”Measures are being taken to neutralise such firing positions.”The comments came in response to a tweet by Trump on Sunday calling for an end to the bombing on the militant-dominated enclave, a large area which is home to almost 3mn people.“Hearing word that Russia, Syria and, to a lesser extent, Iran, are bombing the hell out of Idlib Province in Syria, and indiscriminately killing many innocent civilians.“The World is watching this butchery.What is the purpose, what will it get you? Stop!” the US president said.But the aerial bombardment yesterday was unrelenting.The Observatory said at least four civilians were killed in regime strikes on the town of Maaret al-Numan.Another civilian was killed in the nearby town of Heish, while a sixth was killed by rocket fire on a village in neighbouring Hama province, it said.Human Rights Watch yesterday accused the Syrian regime and Russia of using “internationally banned and other indiscriminate weapons in unlawful attacks on civilians in northwest Syria in recent weeks.”It said they “used banned cluster munitions and incendiary weapons...along with large air-dropped explosive weapons with wide-area effects, including ‘barrel bombs’.”