The Syrian government, backed by Russian and Iranian military forces, on Saturday escalated its assault on the country’s rebel stronghold, pummeling the northwestern province of Idlib with airstrikes and shellings, according to reports.
Russian war planes conducted about 60 air raids in the region Saturday over the course of three hours, the Telegraph, a British newspaper, reported. The strikes killed four civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British nonprofit organization.
The offensive operation follows Russian President Vladimir Putin rejecting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s calls for a ceasefire during a summit held with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran. Russia has claimed Idlib is a “hotbed of terrorism.”
“Fighting terrorism in Idlib was an unavoidable part of the mission to restore peace and stability to Syria,” Rouhani added at the multilateral meeting, the BBC reported.
The assault also comes after Russia bombed targets in 30 strikes in the region on Tuesday, killing at least 12.
Ambassador Nikki Haley, the U.S. representative to the United Nations, had warned earlier this week at the U.N. Security Council meeting against both using chemical weapons in Idlib but also what she termed “a reckless escalation even if chemical weapons were not used.”
While about 30,000 rebel and and jihadist fighters are believed to be in Idlib, the attacks could exacerbate the humanitarian disaster in the country given approximately three million civilians also call the province home and nearby Turkey is refusing to accept more refugees, according to the CBC.
There are additional concerns that the Syrian government, led by Bashar Assad, may resort to chemical weapons to quell rebel insurgents.
More than 350,000 people have died since civil war broke out in 2011.
