Seven people, including four children, died in Russian bombings in the area of the city of Jisr Al-Choghour, in the Idlib region (north-west of Syria), the last great jihadist and rebel stronghold in the country, a announced, Friday, July 22, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
According to the director of the OSDH, Rami Abdel-Rahmane, the children were under 10 years old and six of the seven victims were civilians. Other people are still under the rubble, he said. The victims are mostly displaced Syrians from the neighboring province of Hama, according to the same source.
“My children are gone… the people dearest to my heart are gone”, laments Ayham Mozan, 31, who lost his three little girls and his son. His family was sleeping when the first strike hit his house, he told Agence France-Presse (AFP), lying on a hospital bed in Darkouch, on the Turkish border.
House completely destroyed
After the first strike, Mr. Mozan rescued his wife from the rubble, but could not find his children. “I thought it was a nightmare, we crawled out” before the second strike, adds the bereaved father. The targeted house was completely destroyed, according to an AFP correspondent on the spot. Scattered toys, furniture and clothing were visible among the rubble.
Russia, allied with Syria for decades, is the main support of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime and has been intervening militarily in the country since 2015. About half of the province of Idlib, as well as parts of the provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia are controlled by factions opposed to the Damascus regime, such as Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (Levant Liberation Organization), former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda. This area is also home to rebel groups, supported to varying degrees by Turkey, and other jihadist formations, such as Houras Al-Din.
All these factions have already been the target of air raids by the Syrian regime, its Russian ally, but also by the international anti-jihadist coalition and the United States itself.