BEIRUT — At least 17 people were killed and more than 40 injured on Saturday after Syrian army air strikes struck four cities in the country’s northwestern region of Idlib, witnesses and a local civil defense center said. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has vowed to recapture Idlib, the last rebel-held swathe of territory in the country. The witnesses said seven people were killed in the city of Idlib on Saturday, four in Al-Nayrab, and six in Binnish. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, however said that 18 civilians were killed including six children. Syrian state media carried no reports of air strikes by the Syrian army or its ally Russia in those areas on Saturday but said that the Syrian army had “eliminated a number of terrorists during intense gunfire carried out against their positions” in the southeastern Idlib countryside.

Source: National Post January 11, 2020 17:48 UTC