Fifteen civilians were killed and others injured in northwestern Syria due to shelling by the regime and Russia in the region since the beginning of last October.

The Syria Civil Defence (White Helmets) stated in a report today, Monday, November 18, that its teams carried out 142 search and rescue operations in October in response to military attacks by regime forces and Russia and their allies on opposition-controlled areas in northwestern Syria.

During this response, the Civil Defence teams recovered 14 civilian bodies, including a woman and a child.

The number of injuries reached 90 civilians, including 26 children and 11 women.

One victim and 23 injuries in November

On November 16, a girl was killed in the town of Taftanaz in eastern Idlib due to artillery shelling by regime forces.

According to statistics obtained by Enab Baladi from the Civil Defence, 10 civilians were injured, including a child and two women, due to shelling by the regime and Russia on northwestern Syria during the first ten days of November.

During this period, the Civil Defence teams responded to 36 attacks.

According to what Enab Baladi monitored, 13 people were injured in the region due to these attacks since November 11 to date.

The Civil Defence indicated that northwestern Syria is experiencing a difficult humanitarian reality with the continued attacks by the regime, Russia, and their allies targeting civilian environments, weak international humanitarian response for those in need, and poor infrastructure in the areas and camps.

This has a negative impact on the already difficult humanitarian situation with the prolonged years of war and displacement.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) documented the killing of 12 civilians by regime forces during their operations in various areas of Syria throughout October, including five in Idlib and two each in the provinces of Homs, Daraa, and Aleppo, and one civilian in Deir Ezzor.

The SNHR reported that Russian forces killed 11 civilians, including four children in October, due to an airstrike that targeted a furniture workshop on the outskirts of western Idlib city.

Increased shelling intensity

The intensity of military shelling on areas in northwestern Syria increased in the middle of last month, following reports about the intentions of opposition factions to launch a military operation towards regime positions in Aleppo and Idlib.

Russian warplanes carried out more than 25 airstrikes in one day (October 14) on various areas in the countryside of Aleppo, Idlib, and Latakia.

From the beginning of this year until mid-October, 66 civilians were killed, including 18 children and eight women, and 272 others were injured, including 110 children and 34 women, in northwestern Syria due to shelling by regime forces, Russia, and allied militias, according to a previous report by the Civil Defence.

The ongoing shelling of the region is met with the announcement of the al-Fath al-Mubin operation room, which is responsible for managing military operations in the area, targeting the positions of regime forces and their affiliated militias along the contact lines with artillery and rocket fire.

This shelling by the regime and Russia comes despite Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signing an agreement with his Russian counterpart on March 5, 2020, which included a declaration of a ceasefire starting from March 6, 2020, along the front line between the Syrian regime and the opposition.

This followed another agreement signed by Russia and Turkey within the framework of the Astana agreement in 2017 for “de-escalation,” followed by the Sochi agreement in September 2018, which stipulated a ceasefire in the vicinity of Idlib, but the regime and Russia continuously violate these agreements.

Removing war remnants

The Syria Civil Defence teams conducted 119 non-technical surveys in October across 109 villages, confirming the presence of 71 contaminated areas with unexploded ordnance, 45 of which are within agricultural lands.

The teams removed 138 unexploded munitions, which included 30 rockets, 28 projectiles, 28 hand grenades, 24 mortar shells, 20 submunitions (cluster bombs), six fuses, in addition to a missile and a landmine.