Syrian airstrike kills 11
Most victims are children visiting open-air market
A Syrian government airstrike hit a busy open-air market in the town of Ariha on Saturday, killing at least 11 people, most of them children, according to activists.
Ariha has been targeted over the past week as the government escalates its offensive against the country’s last rebel stronghold.
The airstrike also left an 18month-old girl with an amputated leg and a man with serious injuries, according to Dr. Mohamad Abrash, a surgeon and the chief of Idlib’s central hospital. He said both are in critical condition and the girl’s mother is in ICU in the bed opposite her with internal bleeding in her head and an injury to her chest.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war, and another activist collective, Ariha Today, said most of those killed were children. Ariha Today named six children under the age of 14 it said were killed in the airstrike.
Ariha has been targeted as Syria’s government looks to regain momentum in its stalled offensive, which began in late April. It is one of the main towns in Idlib province, which, along with the surrounding rural areas of Hama province, are home to three million people.
Separately, local doctors said two medics and an ambulance driver were killed when an airstrike targeted their vehicle in Kafr Zita, a town on the front line in Hama province, at the edge of the rebel stronghold.
Ghayath, an activist in Ariha who only gave his first name out of fear for his safety, said the strike hit the town during the busy weekly bazaar.
He said the death toll could have been higher if it were not for the warning from the local civilian defence team against large gatherings.