MESOP Syria Daily: Latest Russia-Regime Airstrikes Kill Scores in Aleppo and Idlib

6 June 2016 – By Scott Lucas – eaworldview – The latest surge in Russian and regime airstikes killed scores of civilians in northwest Syria on Sunday. Activists said at least 40 people were killed in Aleppo alone, as almost 50 airstrikes hit opposition areas in and near Syria’s largest city. The Local Coordination Committees put the toll across Aleppo Province at 49. At least 15 more people were reportedly slain in neighboring Idlib Province.

Despite a supposed “cessation of hostilities” from February 27, the Russian and Syrian air forces have continued to bomb civilian sites, including hospitals, other medical facilities, schools, markets, and mosques. However, the attacks have surged in the past week, as pro-Assad forces suffered another defeat on the front south of Aleppo.Last Monday, dozens of people were killed by strikes near Idlib’s National Hospital, with more dying on subsequent days across Idlib, Aleppo, and Homs Provinces. In one incident on Sunday, 18 bodies were pulled from destroyed buildings in the Qaterji district of Aleppo city.

The scene in one of the opposition-held neighborhoods: Meanwhile, State media continue to claim that rebel mortars and rockets are killing dozens of people on the regime-held side of Aleppo. Regime outlets claimed that 20 people died on Sunday and 44 over the weekend.

The Russian “Center for Reconciliation” went even farther, claiming — without support — “militants from terrorist groups have shelled Syrian cities killing more than 270 peaceful civilians and leaving hundreds of people injured”. The Russians declared that, in the Sheikh Maqsoud district, the “militants…used armored vehicles“.

Trying to justify attacks on all rebel factions, Syria’s Foreign Ministry said in letters to the UN that “moderate opposition” were involved alongside Jabhat al-Nusra, which is excluded from the cessation of hostilities: “[These are] “part of the series of the systematic terrorist acts plotted and prepared by the Turkish regime”. www.mesop.de