Activists said that dozens of civilians were killed or injured in Russian air raids on rural Aleppo and Idlib on Tuesday. The most violent of these airstrikes targeted the town of Tal Rifaat and the villages of Kafr Kalbin and Kafr Khashir southeast of Azaz, killing 15 civilians and wounding 22 others.
Activists added that the Russian bombardment aims to pave the way for the Kurdish YPG militias to advance on the strategic town of Azaz near the Turkish border. They said Russian warplanes also targeted the rebel-held Minnagh airbase.
The rebel-held villages of Kafr Kalbin and Kafr Khashir, located at the frontline of the battles against ISIS, were also hit by Russian aircrafts for the first time since the Russian intervention began in late September. Hundreds of civilians flocked to Bab al-Salamah border crossing with Turkey on Tuesday afternoon as a result of the Russian bombardment.
Civil defense teams in Idlib province said 16 civilians were documented to have been killed and dozens more wounded in Russian air raids the towns of Tal Minnis and Afis.
Meanwhile, Anadolu Agency quoted Turkish Medical sources as saying that 10 Syrian civilians who were wounded in the Russian bombardment on Tal Rifaat on Tuesday were transferred to a government hospital in the Turkish province of Kilis, while those with critical injuries were moved to hospitals in Gaziantep.
Intensified Russian airstrikes on rebel-held areas in northern Aleppo over the past week enabled regime forces and their allied foreign militias to reach the regime-held towns of Nibbul and al-Zahraa’ northwest of Aleppo. Taking advantage of close Russian air cover, regime forces managed to isolate Aleppo city from the towns and villages in the north. Over 100 civilians were killed in the Russian bombardment while tens of thousands fled towards the Turkish border over the past week. (Source: Anadolu Agency)
