53 CIVILIANS, INCLUDING 23 CHILDREN, KILLED IN FIERCE SYRIAN BOMBARDMENT

BEIRUT— At least 53 civilians, including 28 children, were killed in fierce bombardment on Friday that targeted rebelheld areas of northern Syria, a war monitor said, updating an earlier toll.

The airstrikes and barrel bombs targeted the key opposition-held province of Idlib and a rebel town in the adjacent province of Aleppo, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Aleppo bombing

In a new toll on Saturday, the war monitor said 41 civilians, including 25 children, were killed in the rebel town of Orum al-Kubra, Aleppo province, while 12 civilians, three of them children, died in Idlib.

Late Friday, the Observatory had given a combined toll of around 30 dead.

“The toll rose after the discovery of new victims under the rubble and the death of some of those who had been wounded,” said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

The Observatory said it was not clear if Syria or Russia was responsible for the bombardment, but blamed the allies for pounding Idlib.

Rahman said Friday’s bombardment was the most intense since Idlib was declared a “deescalation zone” last year.

Highest toll so far

He said the death toll in rebel-held areas of Aleppo was the highest since the beginning of 2018.

Idlib contains the largest chunk of territory still in rebel hands, and President Bashar Assad has warned it will be his next target after seizing opposition bastions near Damascus and in the south.

Rebels have lost swathes of the territory they once controlled in Syria to regime forces over the last few months, including three areas designated as “deescalation zones.”