Idlib (Syria), Jan 11: The death toll of Russian air strikes in Syria’s Idlib province has nearly reached 100, as several dozen of those who were critically injured in the attacks on Saturday have died, a volunteer rescue group reports.
“After 32 hours of our rescue operation, and following the deaths of those who were critically injured, the total death toll of the strikes has risen to 96,” the Syria Civil Defence said in a press release on Sunday.
The attacks in Idlib targeted a court and a prison run by al-Nusra Front in the rebel-held town of Maarat al-Numaan, Anas Maarawi, a media activist in Idlib, told Al Jazeera.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 81. In Douma, located in Damascus suburbs, Russian air strikes killed at least eight peopleon Sunday, the Syrian Observatory reported, adding that the death toll was expected to rise.
Idlib province is mostly controlled by the Fatah Army coalition – which includes al-Nusra Front, Jund al-Aqsa, Jaish al-Sunna, Liwa al-Haqq, Ajnad al-Sham, and several other factions. More than 250,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict, which began with popular protests in March 2011 and ultimately turned into a civil war following a brutal military crackdown.
