Idlib: At least seven members of a family were killed in the Syrian government and Russian airstrikes at the southern edge of a rebel stronghold in the country's northwest on Saturday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that a woman and her six children were killed in an airstrike that hit their home in Deir al-Sharqi village in southern Idlib.
The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdurrahman said that the children were all under 18 years old. Their father survived because he was not home at the time of the airstrike.
7 killed in Idlib airstrike The intense airstrikes were coupled with fierce ground clashes as the Syrian government, backed by Russia, pushed ahead with a months-old offensive seeking to chip away at territory on the periphery of the rebel enclave.Idlib and surrounding areas are home to 3 million civilians and dominated by Islamist insurgents.Syria's Civil Defence, a volunteer rescue group also known as the White Helmets said that the village of Deir al-Sharqi was hit with four airstrikes that resulted in the killing of the Hammoud family.The intense airstrikes hit a main highway in southern Idlib, and that a rescue team came under attack as they were putting out a fire caused by one of the strikes.By early afternoon on Saturday, the Civil Defence team had recorded 31 strikes, including 18 suspected Russian airstrikes.
