The European Union called Wednesday on concerned parties to protect a ceasefire in the Syrian northwestern province of Idlib and safeguard an agreement struck between Moscow and Ankara last September.
The calls came while Russian warplanes and the Syrian regime pounded the area, uniting moderate and extremist opposition factions against the military campaign launched by Bashar Assad with Moscow's backing.
In May, regime attacks on Idlib forced 270,000 civilians to flee to olive groves in the countryside of the province.
Also, at least 23 medical facilities have been hit since April, including two that have been attacked twice.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least ten civilians were killed Wednesday by Syrian regime raids on the village of Sarjat in the countryside of Idlib.
In September 2018, several areas in the countryside of Hama, Idlib and the western countryside of Aleppo were included in the de-escalation zone deal reached between Russia and Turkey.
More than three million people live in Idlib, many of them displaced from other parts of the country.
However, the Syrian army launched an operation in April against Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in the northern countryside of Hama in central Syria and nearby Idlib.
Western diplomatic sources said on Wednesday that a meeting of leaders representing several opposition factions in the area resulted in “uniting moderate and extremist factions,” such as HTS - formerly the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front - and the moderate Jaish Al-Izzah.
“Turkey was working on dismantling extremist factions and it was about to achieve this objective,” an opposition leader said.
The European Union called on Wednesday for a ceasefire in Idlib and said Russia, Turkey, Iran and the Syrian regime must protect civilians under siege.
“Indiscriminate attacks on women and children and other civilians, their displacement, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure cannot be justified under any circumstances,” EU’s top diplomat Federica Mogherini and its humanitarian aid chief Christos Stylianides said in a statement.
Referring to Russia, Turkey and Iran’s peace efforts, the statement said: “We expect the Syrian regime and the Astana guarantors to fulfill immediately their responsibilities and commitments, and ensure the immediate protection of civilians.”
