Suspected Russian Air Strike in Northwestern Syria Kills over 50 Opposition Fighters

Columns of smoke raise after air strikes hit the town of Saraqeb, in Idlib province, Syria, Feb. 27, 2020. (AP)
Columns of smoke raise after air strikes hit the town of Saraqeb, in Idlib province, Syria, Feb. 27, 2020. (AP)
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Suspected Russian Air Strike in Northwestern Syria Kills over 50 Opposition Fighters

Columns of smoke raise after air strikes hit the town of Saraqeb, in Idlib province, Syria, Feb. 27, 2020. (AP)
Columns of smoke raise after air strikes hit the town of Saraqeb, in Idlib province, Syria, Feb. 27, 2020. (AP)

An air strike on an opposition training camp in northwestern Syria on Monday killed more than 50 fighters and wounded nearly as many, a Syrian opposition spokesman and a war monitor said.

The air strike in the northwestern part of Idlib province, the last opposition enclave in Syria, targeted a military training camp for Failaq al-Sham, one of the largest Turkey-backed opposition groups in Syria, said Youssef Hammoud, a spokesman for the groups.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war in Syria, said the strike killed 56 fighters and wounded nearly 50.

Rescue missions are still underway, the Observatory said.

It said it also suspected the airstrike was carried out by Russia, which is a close ally of Syrian president Bashar Assad in the country's war.

Leaders of the camp were among those killed in airstrike in Jabal al-Dweila, according to Hammoud.

Turkey and Russia had brokered a truce in Idlib earlier this year to halt a government offensive that displaced hundreds of thousands. But the truce remained shaky.

Turkey has long supported Syrian opposition forces in Syria. Russia has negotiated with Ankara to deploy observation teams in the enclave to monitor the truce.



Palestinian Officials Say Israeli Settlers Torched Cars in Ramallah

Palestinians inspect their burnt vehicles at the site where Israeli settlers attacked in Al-Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 04 November 2024. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect their burnt vehicles at the site where Israeli settlers attacked in Al-Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 04 November 2024. (EPA)
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Palestinian Officials Say Israeli Settlers Torched Cars in Ramallah

Palestinians inspect their burnt vehicles at the site where Israeli settlers attacked in Al-Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 04 November 2024. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect their burnt vehicles at the site where Israeli settlers attacked in Al-Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 04 November 2024. (EPA)

Palestinian officials said Israeli settlers were behind an attack in which several cars were torched overnight just a few kilometers (miles) away from the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

No one was wounded in the attack overnight into Monday in Al-Bireh, a city adjacent to Ramallah, where the Western-backed Palestinian Authority is headquartered. An Associated Press reporter counted 18 burned-out cars.

Settler attacks on Palestinians and their property have surged since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel.

But attacks in and around Ramallah, home to senior Palestinian officials and international missions, are rare.

The Palestinian Authority, which administers population centers in the territory, condemned the attack. Israeli police, who handle law enforcement matters involving settlers in the West Bank, said they were investigating.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state. The territory’s 3 million Palestinians live under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy over less than half of the territory.

Over 500,000 Jewish settlers with Israeli citizenship live in scores of settlements across the West Bank, which most of the international community considers illegal.