(MENAFN- Arab Times) Airstrikes believed to have been carried out by Russian warplanes killed at least 18 civilians and wounded dozens more on Sunday in a northern Syrian town held by insurgents, Syrian opposition media reported.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrikes struck the town of Ariha, killing at least 18 people, including four children, and wounding dozens more. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist collective, said the airstrikes struck a busy market, inflicting heavy casualties.
The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, said the airstrike destroyed three buildings in the center of Ariha.
Ariha Today, a Facebook page that covers events in the town, said the airstrikes were carried out by Russian warplanes, killing 40 people and wounding more than 70. Conflicting tolls are common in the chaotic aftermath of violent incidents in Syria.
If Russian warplanes carried out Sunday's strikes it would be one of the deadliest incidents since Moscow began launching airstrikes in Syria two months ago. Opposition activists say more than 400 civilians have been killed by Russian strikes since the air campaign began on Sept 30.
An amateur video posted online showed several men being treated on the floor of what appeared to be a clinic. Blood stains could be seen on the floor's white tiles. On the street outside, four men could be seen lying near the building, with several young men weeping over them.
Shortly afterward, an ambulance arrived and a wounded man in a wheelchair was carried into the clinic.
The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting of the event.
The Observatory reported several other strikes in the northwestern province of Idlib believed to have been carried out by Russian warplanes on Sunday. It said that an office of the Turkistan Islamic Party, a group that consists mainly of fighters from Asian states, was hit in the town of Jisr al-Shughour and that planes struck a relief office for the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham group in the town of Saraqib.
The LCC reported airstrikes on a hospital in Idlib, the provincial capital, and other targets in Saraqib.
Meanwhile, a Russian warplane recently entered Israeli-controlled airspace from Syria but the intrusion was resolved without incident, Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Sunday.
Yaalon's comments come amid deep concern over the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey, which claims it strayed over the Syrian border into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings to change course. Moscow denies the allegations.
"There was a slight intrusion a mile (1.6 kms) deep by a Russian plane from Syria into our airspace, but it was immediately resolved and the Russian plane returned towards Syria," Yaalon told public radio.
"It was apparently an error by the pilot who was flying near the Golan."
Israel seized most of the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later annexed the territory in a move never recognised by the international community.
Yaalon recalled that Israel and Russia had made arrangements to avoid clashes over Syria, with the agreement said to include a "hotline" and information sharing.
He said "Russian planes do not intend to attack us, which is why we must not automatically react and shoot them down when an error occurs."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in Moscow in September to discuss ways of avoiding accidental clashes.
Russia launched a bombing campaign in Syria on Sept 30 at the request of its longstanding ally Bashar al-Assad that Moscow says is targeting Islamic State jihadists and other "terrorist" groups.
Israel has reportedly launched more than a dozen air strikes in Syria since 2013, mainly targeting alleged arms transfers to Hezbollah, and Israeli officials were believed to have feared that Russia's intervention could limit their room for manoeuvre.
Israel opposes Assad, but has sought to avoid being dragged into the war.
In other news, the Syrian army said on Saturday that Turkey had recently increased supplies of weapons, ammunition and equipment to what it described as terrorists in Syria, and accused its northern neighbour of firing shells at Syrian army positions.
"We have certain information that the Turkish government has recently increased its support to the terrorists and the level of their supplies of weapons, ammunition and equipment necessary to continue their criminal acts," an army statement said.
The Syrian government describes as terrorists all the groups fighting Assad in the 4-1/2-year-long war that has moved into a higher gear since Russia intervened militarily on the side of Damascus with air strikes on Sept 30.
Tensions at the Syrian-Turkish border have risen since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane on Tuesday. Many of Russia's air strikes have hit rebels backed by Assad's foreign enemies including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
The statement by the Syrian army command alleged that weapons were being delivered in shipments which Turkey claimed to be humanitarian assistance. It also alleged the weapons were supplied in exchange for looted Syrian and Iraqi antiquities and oil sold at low prices.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has denied accusations his country purchased oil from Islamic State, saying anyone making such claims must prove them.
The Syrian statement also said Turkey had fired a number of mortar bombs towards Syrian army positions on Friday night from a location just over the border from Latakia province in northwestern Syria.
A Syrian military source told Reuters this week rebels were making heavy use of US-made anti-tank missiles paid for by Saudi Arabia and supplied via Turkey in recent weeks and the weapons are having an impact on the battlefield.
The so-called TOW missile is the most potent weapon in the rebel arsenal, and have appeared more frequently in battle in recent weeks. Rebels were shown using one to destroy a grounded Russian helicopter this week.
The army statement said: "The Turkish authorities deliberately created a state of security chaos at the Syrian-Turkish borders, leading to the easy movement of terrorists from Syria to Europe to carry out their terrorist crimes."
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that large quantities of oil and oil products from territory captured by Islamic State had been arriving in Turkey.
Assad told a senior Iranian official on Sunday that his adversaries had increased weapon supplies and financial support to insurgents since the start of a major offensive aided by his allies to regain lost territory.
Assad was quoted by state media as telling Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran's supreme leader, that the military support his country was getting from Iran and Russia had pushed the enemy states he did not name to "further escalate and increase financing and equipping of terrorists".
The Syrian army said on Saturday that Turkey had increased supplies of weapons, ammunition and equipment to what it described as terrorists in Syria.
The senior Iranian official was quoted as saying that his country would continue to support Syria as the war "against terror was a decisive one for the region and the world".
Assad said the defeat of rebel groups fighting to topple his rule was a prerequisite for the "success of any political solution decided by Syrians".
A Syrian military source told Reuters last week rebels were making heavy use of US-made anti-tank missiles paid for by Saudi Arabia and supplied via Turkey and the weapons were having an impact on the battlefield.
The so-called TOW missile is the most potent weapon in the arsenal of rebel groups and has been seen in action more frequently since Russia intervened with air strikes on Syria on Sept 30.
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