Russian air strikes kill 37 civilians in Syria's Idlib, war monitor says

Russian air strikes on Syria's northwest province of Idlib on Monday killed at least 37 civilians including 12 children, a war monitor said. However, Moscow has denied it was behind civilian deaths.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) announced it was the highest civilian death toll in Idlib since the region was designated in May as one of Syria's "de-escalation" zones under a deal brokered by Russia, Iran, and Turkey.

"The air raids struck several locations and villages in the district of Jisr Al Shughur, leaving 37 dead among civilians, including 12 children," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said, updating an earlier toll of 27 dead.

After several months of calm, Idlib province has for the past two weeks been the target of heavy air strikes by the Syrian regime and its Russian allies, following an assault in neighbouring Hama province also covered by the de-escalation accord.

Daesh has no fighters in Idlib.

Syria's exiled opposition blamed Russia and the Syrian regime for what it called the "criminal" bombing, according to a statement.

In what the Istanbul-based National Coalition branded "war crimes," hospitals, medical installations, schools and civil defence facilities had been hit, it said.

Russia denies allegations

The Russian Defence Ministry denied the allegations that its air strikes had killed civilians in Idlib, saying that in recent days it had only bombed militant fighters in the area.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu criticised Moscow on Monday for the same reason, saying that recent Russian bombing in Idlib had killed civilians and moderate rebels and that this would be discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin when he visited Turkey this week.

Putin is expected to meet his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Thursday for talks on Syria.

Major-General Igor Konashenkov of the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement that the Russian and Syrian air forces did not bomb residential areas and accused the observatory of making up allegations and of sympathising with radical militants.