Regime attacks kill 19 in Syria's de-escalation zones

At least 19 civilians were killed and scores injured in attacks by Syrian regime forces and Russia on de-escalation zones in northern Syria, said sources with the White Helmets civil defense agency on Saturday.

Airstrikes and artillery shelling targeted the towns of Kafr Nabl, Khan Shaykhun, Muhambal, Bidama, Hass, Bsida, Sarmin, Kafar Sijnah, Hesh, Arihah and Alamerea in the Idlib province, the sources said.

The attacks left 15 people dead in Muhambal, three in Khan Shaykhun and one in Arihah, the sources said.

Sources earlier said that 14 people had been killed and 20 others injured in the attacks.

Turkey and Russia agreed last September to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

The Syrian regime, however, has consistently broken the terms of the ceasefire, launching frequent attacks inside the de-escalation zone.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in early 2011 when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected severity.