Children Among Casualties in Raids, Landmine Explosions in Northwestern Syria

Smoke rises from the Idlib countryside on Friday, November 12, 2021. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Smoke rises from the Idlib countryside on Friday, November 12, 2021. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Children Among Casualties in Raids, Landmine Explosions in Northwestern Syria

Smoke rises from the Idlib countryside on Friday, November 12, 2021. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Smoke rises from the Idlib countryside on Friday, November 12, 2021. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The death toll from fighting and the explosion of mines and IEDs in northwest Syria’s Idlib governorate increased on Friday to eight civilians, including children.

A child and a man were killed and another two were injured in a landmine explosion while picking olives in the vicinity of San town in east Idlib's countryside, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

The war monitor has documented the death of 629 people, including 82 women and 226 children, by mines and IED explosions and the collapse of residential buildings in several areas in Homs, Hama, Deir Ezzor, Aleppo and the South since early January 2019.

Four children and a family of four had been killed in the past 24 hours, said Mohsen al-Ali, an activist in Idlib.

Ali said the family was displaced from the southern countryside of Aleppo following airstrikes by Russian warplanes on al-Habit area in the vicinity of Idlib city.

The area has four camps for the displaced from different areas of the southern countryside of Aleppo and Idlib countryside, Ali noted.

The airstrikes caused panic among the refugees, some of whom left their tents, fearing the jets would launch other airstrikes, he stressed.

On September 8, Russian warplanes launched six consecutive air raids on the same area, injuring seven children and burning tents for the displaced, along with artillery shelling by the regime forces stationed in the vicinity of the city of Saraqib, east of Idlib.

An official in Idlib, Ahmad Abdo, said the Russian airstrikes and attacks with artillery and missiles by regime forces and Iranian militias on the de-escalation zone since early July have resulted in the death of more than 213 civilians, including 61 children, 29 women, and five humanitarian workers.

Russian warplanes deliberately target areas hosting refugee camps to spread terror and fear among people, Abdo noted.



France Highlights Its Role in Brokering Lebanon Ceasefire Deal

 Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP)
Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP)
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France Highlights Its Role in Brokering Lebanon Ceasefire Deal

 Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP)
Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP)

France’s foreign minister underlined his country’s role in brokering an agreement that ended fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group alongside the US, saying the deal wouldn’t have been possible without France’s special relationship with its former protectorate.

“It’s a success for French diplomacy and we can be proud,” said the minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, speaking hours after the ceasefire went into effect Wednesday.

“It is true that the United States have a privileged relationship with Israel. But with Lebanon, it’s France that has very old ties, very close ties,” the minister added. “It would not have been possible to envisage a ceasefire in Lebanon without France being involved on the front line.”

France will be involved in monitoring the ceasefire, Barrot noted, with 700 French soldiers deployed as part of the 10,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, that has been patrolling the border area between Lebanon and Israel for nearly 50 years.

The minister said France will also work to strengthen Lebanese troops that will deploy in the south of the country as part of the ceasefire, although he didn’t specify what that might include.