Airstrikes snuff out lives of 20 schoolchildren in Syrian city

BEIRUT: Airstrikes on Syria’s rebelheld Idlib province hit a school and the surrounding area on Wednesday, killing at least 35 civilians including many children, a monitor and activists said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “warplanes — either Russian or Syrian — carried out six strikes” in the village of Hass, including on a school complex.

Twenty schoolchildren were among the dead.

The White Helmets civil defense group released pictures of four rescue workers clambering over a mound of rubble in search of survivors after what it said was a “doubletap” strike on the school.

The raids hit Hass around 11:30 am (0830 GMT), an activist with the opposition Idlib Media Center told AFP.

“One rocket hit the entrance of the school as students were leaving to go home, after the school administration decided to end classes for the day because of the raids,” the activist said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Other activists from the province circulated a photograph on social media of a child’s arm, seared off above the elbow, still clutching the strap of a dusty black rucksack. Shaky video foot- age depicted rescue workers sprinting toward the site of the raids and pulling a frail, elderly man out of a collapsed building.

The authenticity of the pictures and footage could not be independently verified.

The latest attacks took to 89 the number of civilians killed in airstrikes on Idlib province in the past seven days, said the Observatory.

Syrian government forces and their Russian ally have been accused by rights groups of carrying out indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure.

A leading opposition group condemned the raids.

The Istanbul-based National Coalition said Russian and regime warplanes “targeted children in their schools, deliberately and intentionally hitting civilians with highexplosive material.”

Syrian and Russian warplanes regularly bomb Idlib, but airstrikes have intensified in recent weeks, according to the Observatory.

On Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and his British counterpart Michael Fallon said an offensive to drive Daesh out of its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa would begin in the next few weeks.