BEIRUT: Regime forces killed at least 15 civilians on Sunday in air strikes carried out in north-western Syria in apparent retaliation for a jihadist attack on two besieged government-held villages, a monitor said.

The bombing raids hit a string of towns and villages in the north-western province of Idlib, which is almost entirely controlled by various jihadist and hard-line rebels.

In the town of Taftanaz the strikes killed 10 civilians, including four children, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said strikes had also hit near a children’s hospital, putting it out of service. Five other civilians were killed in raids that hit other towns.

The air strikes came a day after jihadists from Al Qaeda’s former Syrian affiliate launched an attack on Fuaa and Kafraya, two villages held by the regime but cut off by hardline forces.

Late Saturday, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied fighters shelled Fuaa and Kafraya heavily and clashed with local fighters.

“This is the fiercest attack in around three years,” Abdel Rahman said, adding that Sunday’s deadly air strikes were in response to the jihadist attack.

Six Syrian pro-regime fighters and at least three from HTS were killed in the fighting, which continued on Sunday.

Syrian state news agency SANA also reported Saturday’s attack, and said local fighters were able to push back the jihadists.

Fuaa and Kafraya are the only two places in Syria currently designated as besieged by the United Nations after the government recaptured the Yarmuk Palestinian camp in southern Damascus.

The villages are home to an estimated 8,100 people, most of them Shias. They came under siege in 2015, when rebels ousted regime forces from a vast majority of Idlib province.

Siege tactics have been used throughout Syria’s seven-year conflict, mostly by the government.

Idlib, which lies on the border with Turkey, has seen its population balloon to around two million people in recent years as fighters and civilians evacuated from other opposition areas are dumped there.

It was designated last year as a de-escalation zone, but violence has been creeping up again.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2018