Seven civilians, including four children, have been killed in a Russian air attack in northern Syria’s opposition-held Idlib province, according to the Syrian Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets.
Friday’s attack on the village of al-Jadidah, near the city of Jisr al-Shughour, a predominantly Christian town, also injured 13 others, including eight children.
Local sources reported that two Russian Su-34 planes had targeted the area with four air attacks in the early hours of the morning.
According to a military monitor based in Idlib, two Russian warplanes took off at 5:00 a.m. (03:00 GMT) on Friday from Russia’s Mediterranean base of Hmeimim and circled Idlib province before carrying out the attacks.
At least two missiles hit a poultry barn in the northern outskirts of al-Jadida village near Jisr al Shoghour city in Idlib province and the surrounding area, where a displaced family had been sheltering.
The strike killed four children, all siblings under the age of 10, as well as one adult, and also wounded five others. Another missile hit a house near the poultry barn, killing another civilian.
There was also a second air strike by the same warplanes on the western outskirts of the nearby village of al-Jadida that killed one more civilian.
A 2011 uprising in Syria turned into war after the government responded violently to the country’s protest movement.
Russian intervention on the side of the government in 2015 turned the tide of the conflict, with Idlib now the only largely opposition-held province.
The war has killed more than 300,000 civilians, according to the UN.
