The army shelled a busy part of Ariha town as children were on their way to school.
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A new tragedy touches Syria. Eight people, including five civilians, were killed on Wednesday, October 20, in bombings by the Syrian army in the Idleb region, a jihadist and rebel stronghold in northwestern Syria. The army shelled a busy area of Ariha town, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said, adding that at least two children were among the victims. The bombings, which hit the war-ravaged city as children were on their way to school, also left at least 26 injured, according to the same source.
An AFP journalist on site saw at least five corpses and scenes of chaos in the streets of Ariha, where first aid was treating the wounded. It is one of the deadliest incidents to undermine the Idleb truce agreement, reached in March 2020 and negotiated by Turkey and Russia, the two main foreign players in the conflict.
The Idlib region is one of the last pockets of Syrian territory to escape Damascus’s control, more than ten years after the start of a war that left half a million people dead, according to OSDH. The shelling comes shortly after a bombing attack on an army bus in Damascus left at least 13 people dead, the deadliest such attack in the capital since 2017.