Date: Aug 11, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Pro-regime airstrikes kill 14 civilians in north Syria Agence France Presse BEIRUT: Airstrikes killed at least 14 civilians and wounded dozens more Friday in a rebel-held town in northern Syria, activists said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights could not say whether the raids on Urum al-Kubra in Aleppo province were carried out by regime or allied Russian aircraft. “A series of airstrikes on the town killed 14 civilians, including three children, and left dozens of people injured,” said Rami Abdel-Rahman, head of the Britain-based activist group. “The toll may rise ... because people are trapped under the rubble,” he added. The strikes came as Syrian forces and their Russian backers unleashed heavy airstrikes on rebel-held Idlib Friday, activists said, expanding their shelling of the northwestern province. At least nine civilians were killed, the observatory said. Idlib is the largest chunk of territory still in rebel hands, and President Bashar Assad has warned it would be his next target. The province’s southwest was shelled heavily Thursday and the bombing the next day “moved further east,” the observatory said. The barrel bombs were focused on Khan Sheikhoun. The Syrian civil defense force, also known as the White Helmets, said its volunteers were responding to a bombing blitz on both Khan Sheikhoun and Al-Tah. Hussein Kayal, a media activist in Khan Sheikhoun, said the attack was sudden and shattered nearly three months of calm in the town, as the government focused on defeating opposition forces in south Syria. “It’s been three hours of nonstop bombing,” he said. Assad’s troops appear to have set their sights on Idlib after making sweeping military gains across Syria in recent months, including around Damascus and in the south. Regime reinforcements, including troops and equipment, had been amassing around the southwestern part of Idlib for several days. But a full-fledged assault would be devastating for the estimated 3 million people living in Idlib, many of them rebels and civilians bussed out of other areas that came back under regime control. The U.N. children’s agency warned that a battle for Syria’s Idlib province between government forces and the rebels could negatively affect the lives of more than 1 million children, many of whom live in refugee camps. UNICEF says food, water and medicine are already in short supply in the largely rural northwestern province, now home to over 3 million Syrians who have been displaced from their homes by government offensives across the country. The agency says a battle for Idlib, the last major bastion for Syria’s political and military opposition, would exacerbate an already dire humanitarian situation, and potentially displace 350,000 children. The United Nations appealed Thursday for talks to avert “a civilian bloodbath” in the province, which borders Turkey. “The war cannot be allowed to go to Idlib,” said Jan Egeland, the head of the U.N.’s humanitarian taskforce for Syria. Around 60 percent of Idlib province is held by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, which is led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria affiliate. Rival factions control most of the rest, but Syrian troops have carved out a small southeastern part. Government helicopters Thursday dropped leaflets over towns in Idlib’s eastern countryside urging people to surrender. The U.N. has appealed on Turkey to open its border to refugees, should the Syrian government decide to attack the province, Egeland said. Turkey, which has established itself as a sponsor of rebels in northern Syria, already hosts some 3.5 million Syrian refugees – the most of any nation. It has also established 12 monitoring posts in Idlib and deployed 1,000 troops in the province. But Kayal in Khan Sheikhoun said there were doubts the Turkish presence would deter the Syrian government from attacking. “People here won’t be surprised if there’s a ground attack. “The Turkish points are weak – they won’t repel anything. “We’re scared that if anything happens, [the Turkish forces] will pull out immediately,” he said. In addition, government forces also bombed rebel-held towns in adjacent Hama province, the observatory said. Syria’s crippling civil war has killed at least 400,000 people, according to monitors. More than 11 million – or half of Syria’s prewar population – have been displaced from their homes, according to the U.N., including some 5.6 million who have been made refugees abroad.