Fierce fighting kills 66 in Syria
Russia- led warplanes hit terrorists havens as rescue ops ended
AL- Tamana, Syria, Dec. 29: Intense fighting killed dozens of people on the edge of the last Syrian province entirely outside government control as aid workers completed a series of medical evacuations from another rebelheld area on Friday.
Government and allied forces backed by Russian warplanes took on mostly jihadist fighters in an area straddling the border between Idlib and Hama provinces, sparking clashes that left 66 people dead.
The latest fighting, which could signal the start of a major offensive to wrest Idlib province back from rebels dominated by a former Al- Qaeda affiliate, escalated on Thursday.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 66 people have been killed since then and the clashes, centred around an area called Al- Tamana, continued on Friday.
At least 19 civilians were among the dead, said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Britain- based monitoring organisation.
They were killed in air strikes carried out by Russian warplanes and by barrel bombs dropped by Syrian aircraft, he said.
He said 27 soldiers and members of allied paramilitary units were killed in the fighting as well as 20 rebels, from Islamist groups. Abdel Rahman said the latest deaths brought the number of civilians killed since Monday to 40.