Air strikes kill 22 at market in Syria’s Idlib

BEIRUT: Air strikes, likely to be Russian, on Thursday killed 22 civilians in a market in the northwestern province of Idlib, which is largely controlled by jihadists, a monitor said.

The strikes hit the area of Harem, which is controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group led by Syria’s former al-Qaeda affiliate, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based monitor says it identifies who carried out air strikes based on flight patterns, munitions used, and aircraft.

Meanwhile, the Syrian government moved closer to ending rebel resistance in eastern Ghouta as civilians streamed out of one of its besieged, bomb-battered towns on Thursday and insurgents prepared to surrender another.

The army assault on eastern Ghouta, an area of towns and farmland just outside Damascus, has been one of the most intense in Syria’s seven-year-old war, killing more than 1,500 people in a relentless bombardment with war planes, shells and rockets.

An army officer interviewed on state television urged rebels who had not yet negotiated a deal to evacuate eastern Ghouta to quit. "Death is coming for you if you do not surrender," he said.

It broadcast footage of a long line of parked buses on a highway in the town of Harasta with crowds of people standing alongside. Syrian army soldiers looked on. A Syrian military source said 600 to 700 fighters were expected to be among about 2,000 people leaving in them in the coming hours for opposition areas in northwestern Syria.

As the daylight dimmed, a small group of them could be seen on television kneeling in a line for Islam’s sunset prayer -perhaps the last they would perform in their hometown. Children ran among the groups of adults waiting to board the buses. Between 18,000-20,000 people were expected to stay in Harasta under government rule, the military source added.

Meanwhile, state television reported that more than 6,000 people had fled the larger rebel-held town of Douma since Wednesday, crossing over into government-held territory.

The Ahrar al-Sham group’s decision to surrender Harsata leaves only Douma and another rebel pocket in eastern Ghouta that includes the towns of Jobar, Ein Terma, Arbin and Zamalka.

They are all that remain of the main insurgent stronghold near the Syrian capital Damascus, the biggest prize for President Bashar al-Assad in his fight against the rebels since the recapture of Aleppo in late 2016.Government air strikes had pummelled parts of eastern Ghouta on Thursday morning, striking Arbin and Zamalka and killing 19 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitoring group.