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.



Gaza Civil Defense Says 19 Killed in Israeli Strikes

Palestinians inspect the damage following overnight Israeli strikes, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Palestinians inspect the damage following overnight Israeli strikes, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
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Gaza Civil Defense Says 19 Killed in Israeli Strikes

Palestinians inspect the damage following overnight Israeli strikes, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Palestinians inspect the damage following overnight Israeli strikes, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)

Gaza's civil defense agency said two Israeli air strikes killed at least 19 people in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory's north early Monday.

"Our teams found 15 martyrs and 10 wounded, mostly children and women, after an Israeli strike on three apartments" northwest of Gaza City, said the agency's spokesman, Mahmud Bassal.

It added that four other people were killed and four wounded in a strike on a house in Beit Lahiya city in the northwest.

Israeli Cabinet ministers approved plans to intensify military operations in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli official said on Monday.
The official said the plan was gradual and involved claiming more territory in the Palestinian enclave, where Israel already controls roughly half of the land. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the influential security Cabinet, a gathering of top ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, approved the decision early Monday.