Raid kills seven children, two pregnant women in Syria's Idlib: Monitor
At least seven children and two pregnant women were killed in an air strike in Syria's rebel stronghold province of Idlib on Tuesday, a monitor said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike on the town of Khan Sheikhun appeared to have been carried out by Russian warplanes.
Russia began its bombing campaign in support of the government in September 2015, saying it was targeting "terrorists."
"The strike hit a street where children were playing. Three of the dead children were from one family and were visiting their grandfather," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said
He said the dead children were four girls and three boys, but did not immediately have each of their ages.
Last month air strikes hit a school in Idlib province killing 22 children and six teachers, according to the UN and witnesses. It was not clear whether those strikes on 25 October were carried out by Russian of government jets.
Idlib province is mostly controlled by a rebel alliance known as the Army of Conquest, which groups rebel factions with the the Fateh al-Sham Front, formerly Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate.
Fateh al-Sham is blacklisted by the United Nations and the United States as a "terrorist organisation" and Russia says its fighters are a legitimate target.
While air strikes continue in Idlib, Russia has promised that its air force will continue to hold off on strikes against war-ravaged Aleppo unless rebels launch a new offensive.
The Kremlin said on Monday that it would stick to the ceasefire in Syria's second city, despite rebel's snubbing Moscow's offer to leave the city.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin deemed a ceasefire on eastern Aleppo to be "reasonable if militants don't start combat action."
Russia has halted air strikes on rebel-held eastern Aleppo since 18 October, after international condemnation over its bombardment of the city.
Putin ordered an additional 10-hour "humanitarian pause" on Friday that saw Syrian forces on the ground halt fire to allow rebels and civilians to quit Aleppo.
But rebels scorned the offer to leave with their weapons, and civilians stayed put in the devastated eastern part of the city.
Russia is meanwhile beefing up its firepower in the Mediterranean Sea off Syria by dispatching its only aircraft carrier and warships to bolster its forces.
More than 300,000 people have been killed since Syria's war evolved from a widespread protest movement against Assad's rule in March 2011 to a multi-front war between rebels, Kurds and pro-government forces.
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