BALADI NEWS
Russia’s military said the United States had mounted air strikes in Syria’s Idlib without forewarning Moscow or Ankara, endangering a ceasefire there, Russian news agencies reported on Sunday.
The strikes without a heads-up in the “de-escalation zone” breached previous agreements and caused several casualties, TASS news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying.
It said Russian and Syrian warplanes had fully suspended raids against insurgents in Idlib province in northwest Syria, after declaring a ceasefire that started on Saturday morning.
On Saturday, the U.S. Central Command, part of the Department of Defense, said U.S. forces struck an al-Qaeda facility in Idlib in an attack aimed at the organisation’s leadership. U.S. air strikes have at times hit targets linked to al-Qaeda in northwest Syria in recent years.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the air strikes had pounded bases belonging to jihadists near the town of Maarat Misrin on Saturday. The UK-based monitor said more than 40 militants, including some commanders, were killed.
Source: Reuters.