The Syria Campaign reported that Assad’s regime had broken the ceasefire brokered last week between Assad’s Russian ally and Turkey when it today bombarded civilians buying fruit and vegetables at a crowded market in Idlib city, northwest Syria. At least 15 people were killed, including the White Helmet volunteer Shadi al-Asaad, who died trying to save others. The search for bodies and survivors is ongoing.
When the ceasefire was announced at the weekend, the families preparing to leave decided to stay. It reported that displaced people were full of hopes to go back to their homes, and farmers to their abandoned fields.
The Syrian regime’s bombing of the market was designed to create maximum bloodshed and fear amongst the 3.5 million civilians trapped in Idlib, the largest remaining enclave of Syria outside of Assad’s control.
The humanitarian crisis, which has seen more than 700,000 people flee their homes in the past few months to overcrowded displacement camps in the cold winter rain and mud is worsening and life has become even harder for families to survive.
In cooperation with the Syria Campaign.