Airstrikes pound Syria's Idlib killing dozens

Airstrikes pound Syria's Idlib killing dozens
A hospital was hit when air raids pounded Syria's Idlib province on Saturday, as rebel groups announced the break of the siege in Aleppo.
2 min read
06 August, 2016
Russian airstrikes have hit Idlib on several occasions [Anadolu]
At least 10 civilians were killed when warplanes hit a hospital amid a bombardment of airstrikes on Saturday.

Three children and two woman are among the dead after the suspected Russian or government air raids in the Syria's Milis town in Idlib, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed. The London-based monitor added that the town is controlled by a rebel alliance led by al-Qaeda's former Syrian branch.

The news was confirmed by the Idlib Media Centre which reported the strike on the hospital by an unidentified aircraft.

The World Health Organisation frequently warned that Syria was considered among the most dangerous location for health care workers to operate last year, with 135 attacks on health facilities and workers in 2015.

Most recently, four makeshift hospitals and a local blood bank were hit by air raids in late July.

Meanwhile, leading Syrian rebel group and activists announced that the siege of Aleppo was broken on Saturday after fighters captured new districts in the city.

Around 300,000 civilians were trapped in eastern parts of Aleppo, which had been encircled by regime troops and militias, before opposition fighters from Ahrar al-Sham, Jaish al-Islam, the Free Syrian Army and other Islamist and opposition factions launched an offensive.

"Rebels break Aleppo's siege," wrote the Istanbul-based National Coalition on Twitter. 

The Islamist faction Ahrar al-Sham also confirmed on Twitter that a rebel advance had "opened the route to Aleppo".

The rebels now control a road – passing through a southwestern suburb of Aleppo – which is the last open route into the city. 

This means that rebels have cut off regime forces and open up a new road for their own besieged forces in the city's east. 

However, state-run media denied that the rebels captured these areas.

More than 280,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011 and millions have been forced to flee, including around five million who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.