Baladi News – Idlib (Saleh al-Abdallah)
The city of Saraqib in Idlib eastern countryside witnessed unprecedentedly violent airstrikes by Russian and Syrian regime war planes on a number if vital facilities in the city, which was considered by the city activists a retaliation upon the advances of the Syrian resistance forces in Aleppo.
Head of Civil Defense Organization in Syria, Raed al-Sale, told Baladi News, “Russian war planes are conducting an unprecedented airstrikes campaign on the city using all types of internationally forbidden weapons including cluster bombs, smart cluster bombs loaded on parachutes and dropped on specific areas, and chlorine gas. 33 injuries were documented, and the Civil Defense collected more than 1500 unexploded cluster bombs over the previous two days. On Friday alone, we recorded more than 30 airstrikes that killed a woman and wounded others, and the residents were warned about other anticipated airstrikes.”
In an interview with Baladi News, Osama Bareish, Head of Civil Defense in Saraqib, attributed the airstrikes to the fact that Russia wants to take revenge on Saraqib city after the fall of a Russian helicopter in its eastern countryside, which caused all its crow.
The number of the Russian airstrikes exceeded 46 during less than 24 hours, which targeted important vital facilities including schools, medical centers, residents’ houses, and relief distribution centers including the office of the Union of Syrians Abroad providing the greatest humanitarian reliefs.
In this context, the administrative office in the Union of Syrians Abroad deplored and condemned the Russian airstrikes that destroyed their center as well as its cars completely. The office considered such an aggression a war crime given the center carries out the pure humanitarian task of distributing 5000 food baskets a week to four governorates in the north of Syria.
It is noteworthy that Saraqib city witnessed huge displacement towards the neighboring areas after most of the families stayed in farmlands overnight due to intense airstrikes.