On Saturday, nine civilians, including six children, were killed in shelling by Syrian regime forces that targeted olive fields in northwestern Syria, as reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Observatory stated that “the ground shelling targeted civilians who were working in olive harvesting in the village of Qoqfin in the southern countryside of Idlib.”
According to the same source, the shelling resulted in the deaths of nine civilians, including a woman and six children, while others were injured.
The Idlib province, located in the northwestern part of Syria, is partially controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra), and it also encompasses limited adjacent areas in Aleppo, Latakia, and Hama provinces.
The region is home to around three million people, nearly half of whom are displaced individuals.
Since 2020, a ceasefire has been in place in the region following three months of extensive attacks by Damascus.
However, occasional violations of the ceasefire occur due to clashes and artillery exchanges, in addition to airstrikes conducted by regime forces and their ally, Russia.
In recent weeks, regime forces have intensified their targeting of the region following an unclaimed drone attack at the beginning of last month that struck the military academy in Homs, resulting in over a hundred casualties.
This attack marked one of the deadliest assaults against the army since the start of the conflict in the country in 2011.
Since 2011, Syria has been plagued by a devastating conflict that has claimed the lives of over half a million people, caused extensive infrastructure damage, and led to the displacement and forced migration of millions of people within and outside the country.
