February 2020. An air raid near a bakery and a medical clinic in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib region has killed 10 civilians, a war monitor and a rescue service said, as government forces kept up a ground offensive. The attack on Thursday, believed to have been carried out by Russian warplanes backing a Syrian government offensive, also put a local hospital out of service, they said. The reported assault that took place in Ariha, a town in Idlib province, late on Wednesday comes as the rebel-held enclave is under intense fire amid Syrian government advances on the area that had been controlled by the opposition for nearly eight years. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the raid, believed to be carried out by Russian warplanes, killed at least 10 civilians. The Syrian Civil Defence, a group of rescuers who operate in rebel-held areas, put the death toll at 11, including a child, saying most of them were killed when the Russian warplanes hit a road used by displaced people trying to leave Ariha. Both the Observatory and the Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, said a local hospital and a bakery were struck. The Ariha hospital, known as al-Shami, was no longer functional, the Observatory said. At least 24 people were wounded, including a doctor, a White Helmets volunteer, three women and two children, the rescuers said. What chance does our world have if we don’t have a functioning UN? What chance does the UN have of functioning if one of its five permanant members of its security council is comitting War Crimes on a near daily basis in Syria?
Idlib Under Fire Part 2
