Syria Government Bombing Kills Eight in School Turned Shelter

By Middle East Eye

01 January 20

The attack comes as government forces escalate their offensive on the last rebel-held bastion

and-to-land missiles attacks in northeastern Syria on Wednesday killed eight civilians, including four children, taking shelter in a school, as government forces and their allies intensify their bombing campaign on the rebel stronghold of Idlib.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one of the missiles hit a part of the school that was turned into a shelter for the displaced in the town of Sarmin in the Idlib province. 

Sixteen people were wounded including some in critical condition, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said, according to AFP news agency.

The UK-based group said government bombing on Wednesday has targeted other areas in Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in the country, including the town of Khan al-Subul in the southern countryside of the province.

Overnight, rebel factions bombed areas under government control in Sahl al-Ghab, located in Hama’s northwestern countryside.

Since mid-December, Syrian and Russian forces have intensified their bombing campaign on southern Idlib despite an August ceasefire deal.

The region is controlled by militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and is home to three million people.

Since 19 December, forces supporting the government of President Bashar al-Assad have seized dozens of towns and villages following clashes that have killed hundreds on both sides.

Last week the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA said more than 235,000 people have fled their homes in Idlib between 12 -25 December.

The displacements have seen public buildings such as mosques, garages, wedding halls and schools turned into shelters, OCHA says.

The mass movement had also left the Maaret al-Numan region, one of Idlib’s largest urban centres, "almost empty".

The government advances in the province have brought its forces less than four kilometres from Maaret al-Numan, in southern Idlib.

"People from Saraqab and its eastern countryside are now fleeing in anticipation of fighting directly affecting their communities next," the OCHA said.

Last year, a total of 11,215 fighters and civilians were killed in Syria, the Observatory reported.

Of those, 3,473 were civilians including 1,021 children, it said, adding that it was the least deadly years on record since the war began in 2011.