Civilians form defence group in western Aleppo amid air strikes

As diplomacy struggles to find a solution to the war in Syria, civilians in the last rebel-held area of the northwest are preparing to defend themselves. 

A group called by locals the "civil resistance committee" was formed last month in western Aleppo.

For the past five weeks, hundreds of people have been killed by Russian jets and Syrian regime artillery, and the fear is the bombardment is in preparation for a full out ground assault. 

Volunteers say a ground attack from the Syrian regime, backed by Russia, is inevitable.

TRT World's Obaida Hitto has more.

Air strikes in Idlib

TRT World sources on Wednesday confirmed that Russian and regime warplanes were still carrying out air strikes in Idlib province.

At least five people, including a woman and two children, have been killed in the latest strikes. 

Hundreds of air strikes on Idlib have been reported in just the last 48 hours. 

In neighbouring Hama, the regime has shelled large areas of trees and fields. 

Damascus and anti-regime forces are blaming each other for a scorched earth policy that has set crops on fire and led to food shortages in a region where millions are at risk.  

A TRT World team with correspondent Obaida Hitto gained access to the front lines of opposition defences in western Aleppo.

10 killed during Eid - monitor

Meanwhile, air strikes and shelling by regime forces killed 10 civilians in Syria's northwest on Wednesday, as residents marked the holiday of Eid al Fitr, a war monitor said.

Two children were among six people killed in regime strikes on the town of Kafr Aweid in the militant-held province of Idlib, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The victims' relatives gathered at the town's graveyard on Wednesday afternoon as an excavator dug a large pit in the ground.

The scattered remains of one of the children were placed in a cardboard box before being buried, an AFP photographer said.

The corpse of another was covered in an embroidered blue sheet.

Another civilian died in regime shelling on the northern Hama countryside, also held by militants, said the Britain-based monitor.

Regime air strikes also hit a motorcycle in the Idlib town of Maaret al Numan, killing a woman and her two children, said the Observatory.

Wednesday's attacks come amid an escalation in violence in parts of the country's northwest held by Syria's former Al Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al Sham.

Idlib deal

A September deal was supposed to avert a full-out regime offensive on Idlib province and adjacent areas, home to around three million people, nearly half of whom have been displaced from other parts of Syria.

But the regime and its ally Russia have since late April ramped up deadly air strikes and rocket fire on the region, and militants have clashed on its edges.

The bombardment of Idlib province and neighbouring areas has killed more than 300 people since late April, according to the Observatory.

It also displaced nearly 270,000 people in May alone, according to the UN.

A total of 24 health facilities and 35 schools have been hit in the latest escalation, according to the UN's humanitarian office.

Analysts predict that regime leader Bashar al Assad and his allies will continue to chip away at the area, but not unleash a major assault that would create chaos on Turkey's doorstep.

The conflict in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people since it started in 2011.