Jets believed to be Russian bombed several towns in opposition-held northwestern Syria on Wednesday (19 August) in a new flare-up of violence since a Turkish-Russian deal that halted major fighting nearly six months ago, witnesses said.
Warplanes flying at high altitude, which tracking centers said were Russian Sukhoi jets, dropped bombs on the Harbanoush and Sheikh Bahr Nahr areas where makeshift camps house tens of thousands of displaced families.
"There were over 20 raids we have monitored by Russian jets stationed in Hmeimim air base," said Abdullah Sawan, a volunteer plane spotter whose network covers the Russian air base in the western coastal province of Latakia.
Residents also said the jet strikes coincided with heavy artillery shelling by the Syrian army of several villages in Jabal al-Zawya in southern Idlib.
Opposition groups say the Syrian army and its allied militias were massing troops on front lines.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow nor the Syrian regime army who accuse militant groups of wrecking the deal and deny any indiscriminate attacks on civilians.
The bombings came a day after it was reported that a Russian general was killed and two other servicemen were wounded by a land mine explosion in eastern Syria.
The Russian Defence ministry said the attack took place on Tuesday (18 August) in the province of Deir el-Zour when a Russian military convoy was returning to the base after a "humanitarian" mission.
It said the general died of wounds while being evacuated. The ministry did not identify him by name but reports said that held the rank of major-general.
source: commonspace.eu with agencies.
photo: A refugee camp in Syria's Idlib region (archive picture)
