Russian Jets Pound Syria’s Idlib for Fourth Time in 2021

Laying the foundation stone for a school in the name of a Turkish officer in northern Syria (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
Laying the foundation stone for a school in the name of a Turkish officer in northern Syria (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
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Russian Jets Pound Syria’s Idlib for Fourth Time in 2021

Laying the foundation stone for a school in the name of a Turkish officer in northern Syria (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
Laying the foundation stone for a school in the name of a Turkish officer in northern Syria (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)

Russian jets on Tuesday pounded Syrian opposition posts in the war-torn country’s northern Idlib province. The airstrikes targeted the town of Al-Bara, located in Idlib’s southern countryside, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based war monitor also confirmed that Russian warplanes remain scrambled across the targeted area’s sky.

On February 3, activists confirmed that Russian jets executed several airstrikes using high-explosive missiles on several positions nearby Armanaz town in the western countryside of Idlib. The attack injured several members of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Meanwhile, reconnaissance drones were seen flying over the area.

The recent Russian airstrikes follow a Tuesday attack staged by opposition factions from the “Manifest Victory” operation command center against Syrian regime forces in Jabal al-Zawya area in Idlib’s southern countryside.

Regime forces, for their part, shelled multiple areas south of Idlib city. Among the spots targeted were Al-Fatira, Safohin, Benin, Ruwayha, and the outskirts of al-Bara and Fulayfel.

According to the Observatory, no casualties were reported.

Observatory sources also documented renewed rocket attacks by regime forces in the early hours of Monday morning targeting opposition outposts in Al-Fatira, Safohin, Al-Bara, Kansafra, and Fulayfel in the southern countryside of Idlib.

Areas in northwestern areas of Hama province were also attacked by regime forces.

Accompanying the attacks, reconnaissance drones were seen flying over the Russian-Turkish de-escalation zone.

Field activist Suhaib Al-Idlibi confirmed Russian warplanes striking in the vicinity of the city of Al-Bara, south of Idlib.

Damage from the raids, according to Idlibi, was limited to material losses.

Another field activist, Omar Al-Mohammed, reported that regime forces shelled on Tuesday morning opposition-held areas east and south of Idlib. They mainly fired rounds of heavy artillery and rockets against the Deir Sinbul areas and the villages of Benin, Bzabour, and Shnan.

In Bzabour, a civilian was killed and devastating material damage was inflicted on locals.



UN: Lifelines Keeping People Alive in Gaza Are Collapsing

21 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
21 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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UN: Lifelines Keeping People Alive in Gaza Are Collapsing

21 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
21 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is appalled by an accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza "where the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing," his spokesperson said on Monday.

"He deplores the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

"Israel has the obligation to allow and facilitate by all the means at its disposal the humanitarian relief provided by the United Nations and by other humanitarian organizations."

Israeli ground troops for the first time Monday pushed into areas of a central Gaza city where several aid groups are based, in what appeared to be the latest effort to carve up the Palestinian territory with military corridors.

Deir al-Balah is the only Gaza city that has not seen major ground operations or suffered widespread devastation in 21 months of war, leading to speculation that the Hamas militant group holds large numbers of hostages there. The main group representing hostages’ families said it was “shocked and alarmed” by the incursion, which was confirmed by an Israeli military official, and demanded answers from Israeli leaders.

Israel says the seizure of territory in Gaza is aimed at pressuring Hamas to release hostages, but it is a major point of contention in ongoing ceasefire talks.

The UN food agency, meanwhile, accused Israeli forces of firing on a crowd of Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid over the weekend. Gaza's Health Ministry called it one of the deadliest attacks on aid-seekers in the war that has driven the territory to the brink of famine.