Idlib:
At least 50 people have been killed and dozens have been injured in Syrian
government air strikes on markets in two rebel-held towns of Idlib province.
Five children
were among the victims and the death toll was expected to rise. Escalating
violence in the country in recent days has left a seven-week partial truce on
the verge of collapse.
The strikes
were among the deadliest since a ceasefire took effect in Syria at the end of
February, Rami Abdurrahman, chief of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights, said. The opposition’s Higher Negotiations Committee
(HNC) announced its delegation was leaving Geneva because no advances were
made in the talks. Riad Hijab, the head of the HNC, had earlier
warned that the delegation would leave Switzerland if the attacks on rebel-held
towns would not stop.
Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted that the peace talks were “not frozen”.
He said a government delegation and other groups were still taking part.
Lavrov told a press conference in France that “external players” were
trying to destabilize the talks and damage the Damascus government. He said: “There
are some players on the external front who cherish dreams of ousting the regime
using force, they are trying to do everything they can to achieve this,
including attempts to trigger derailment of the intra-Syria talks.”
It was not
clear if Tuesday’s air strikes were carried out by Syrian or Russian war planes
that have been deployed to Syria to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
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