The Syrian regime breached the truce that it announced by carrying out large-scale bombing that targeted areas inhabited by civilians yesterday in rural Idlib and Hama, killing dozens and prompting residents to flee.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 22 civilians including a child were killed yesterday in an air strike carried out by either Syrian or Russian fighter aircraft on the town of Darkush which is located in Idlib province in north-western Syria, near the Turkish border. The Observatory earlier reported that 15 civilians had been killed and 40 wounded in the town which is under the control of Al-Nusra Front (Al-Qaeda’s arm in Syria) and other factions.

It also pointed out that the death toll is likely to rise as a result of the critical conditions of some of the injured and the fact that many people are missing. The village of Al-Sheikh Bahr in northern Idlib was also bombed, and this led to dozens of deaths and injuries. At the same time, warplanes bombed areas on the outskirts of Marazita; a village in the southern countryside of Idlib. However, there were no reports of injuries.

Jaish Al-Fatah, a coalition of factions that include Al-Nusra Front and Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, controls the entire province of Idlib except the besieged towns of Fua and Kefraya. Tens of thousands of residents live in Idlib and the regime has expanded the range of its shelling that targeted areas in the town of Kafr Takharim in the northern Idlib countryside, and this resulted in people being injured.