Russian airstrikes kill two civilians in Syria’s Idlib

Two civilians were killed and dozens injured in Russian airstrikes in Syria's northwestern Idlib province on Wednesday, according to sources with the White Helmets civil defense agency.

The dawn attacks targeted a refugee camp in Kafr Amim village in the city of Saraqib, the sources said.

Nearly 19 people, mostly children, were injured in the attacks, the sources said.

According to a pro-opposition warplane observatory, the attacks were carried out by a Russian SU 34 plane that took off from Khmeimim airbase in Syria’s Latakia province.

Regime attacks in Idlib’s de-escalation zone are estimated to have killed at least 126 civilians -- and injured more than 380 others -- since the beginning of 2019.

In September 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a demilitarized zone after a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his counterpart Vladimir Putin in Russia's coastal city of Sochi.

Ankara and Moscow signed a memorandum of understanding calling for the stabilization of the situation in Idlib's de-escalation zone, in which acts of aggression are prohibited.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.