Date: May 23, 2019 Source: The Daily Star Deadly Syrian strike hits market, kills 18 MAARET AL-NUMAN, Syria/ WASHINGTON: Syrian government airstrikes killed 18 civilians, including a dozen people at a busy market, as fierce fighting raged for the militant-held northwest, an activist group said Wednesday. Regime forces battled to repel a militant counteroffensive around the town of Kafr Nbouda that has left 70 combatants dead in 24 hours, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham alliance, led by Syria’s former Al-Qaeda affiliate, controls a large part of Idlib province as well as adjacent slivers of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces. The militant-dominated region is nominally protected by a buffer zone deal, but the government and its ally Russia have escalated their bombardment in recent weeks, seizing several towns on its southern flank. At least 12 people were killed and another 18 wounded when regime warplanes hit the militant-held Idlib province town of Maaret al-Numan around midnight Tuesday, the Observatory said. The market was crowded with people out and about after breaking the daytime fast observed during the holy month of Ramadan. The bombardment blew in the facades of surrounding buildings, and ripped through the flimsy frames and canvas of stalls in the market square, an AFP photographer reported. The bodies of market-goers were torn apart. “Residents are still scared,” stallholder Khaled Ahmad said. Three more civilians were killed Wednesday by airstrikes in the nearby town of Saraqeb, the Observatory said. Two others were killed in strikes on the town of Maaret Harmeh, it added. Another civilian was killed in air raids on the town of Jisr al-Shughur, the Observatory said. The strikes came as heavy clashes raged in neighboring Hama province after the militants launched a counterattack Tuesday. Fresh fighting Wednesday took the death toll to 70 - 36 regime forces and militia and 34 militants, the Observatory said. It said the militants had recaptured most of Kafr Nbouda from government forces, who had taken control of the town on May 8. State news agency SANA Wednesday however said the army repelled a militant attack in the area, killing dozens of fighters. Russia and rebel ally Turkey inked the buffer zone deal in September to avert a government offensive on the region and protect its 3 million residents. But President Bashar Assad’s government upped its bombardment of the region after HTS took control in January. Russia too has stepped up its airstrikes in recent weeks. The Observatory says nearly 200 civilians have been killed in the flare-up since April 30. The United States called for a cease-fire in Idlib Wednesday, with U.S. special representative for Syria, James Jeffrey, saying that Washington is working toward halting the clashes and get the area back to the September cease-fire.