Air strikes kill six children in Syria

BEIRUT: Fourteen civilians, including six children and infants, were killed on Saturday in air strikes in northwest Syria, targeted for months now by deadly regime and Russian bombardment, a monitor said. Most of the children were among civilians killed when Russian aircraft raided an informal camp of internally displaced Syrians after midnight on Friday, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The camp near the town of Khan Sheikhoun, in Idlib region, houses Syrians who had fled raids and clashes in neighbouring Hama province.

Hours later a man and his heavily pregnant wife were killed in the eastern Idlib town of Kefraya in air strikes carried out by unidentified aircraft, the Britain-based Observatory said.

White Helmets volunteers found the bodies of the dead woman, and her well-formed baby lying next to her open stomach the umbilical cord still attached, an AFP correspondent said.

In the north of Hama province, three civilians including a child were killed by artillery fire, the Observatory said.

Russian and Syrian regime aircraft have ramped up strikes on Idlib since the end of April, killing more than 590 civilians, while 45 others have perished from rebel fire, according to the Observatory.