9 killed in strikes on Syria’s last rebel enclave

Beirut, July 15

At least nine civilians were killed, including three children, when Syrian government rockets hit two villages in the last rebel stronghold in northwestern Syria, rescue workers and a war monitor said on Thursday.

The Syrian Civil Defence team that operates in opposition areas, known as White Helmets, said guided missiles struck in Ibleen, a village in southern Idlib, killing a woman, her daughter and a child and injuring four others. All were from the same family, the White Helmets said.

In eastern Idlib, at least six were killed, including a child, when rockets hit an area where a quarry is located near Foa, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Those killed were stone cutters, the Observatory said. The White Helmets also reported the strike, but said two children were among those killed.

The discrepancy in the number of casualties in a cease-fire zone could not be immediately reconciled. — AP