Air strikes hit six towns in Syria's Aleppo day after truce: Monitor
Date
2/28/2016 6:06:11 AM
(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Syrian children walk past heavily damaged buildings in the rebel-held town of Douma on the eastern edges of the capital Damascus on February 27 2016 on the first day of the landmark ceasefire agreement.AFP / Sameer Al-Doumy
BEIRUT: War planes attacked six towns inSyria's northern Aleppo province early on Sunday the SyrianObservatory for Human Rights said a day after a cessation ofhostilities agreement took effect.
Syrian insurgents said the air strikes were carried out byRussian war planes in support of Syria's government but theObservatory which monitors the conflict said the identity of thejets was not clear.
"We do not know which planes carried out the strikes andalso we are not sure if this is considered a breach to the trucebecause it is not clear if these towns are included in thetruce" the Observatory's director Rami Abdulrahman said.
Syria's state media did not mention the strikes. Russia'sdefence ministry declined to comment.
The cessation of hostilities agreed as part of a U.S. and Russian plan does not cover assaults on militants from IslamicState or the Nusra Front - an al Qaeda affiliate that has called
for an escalation of attacks on Friday.
Abdulrahman said some of the towns which were attackedincluding Daret Azza were controlled by Nusra Front and otherIslamist groups.
Other attacks hit the villages and towns of Qabtan al-JabalAndan Hreitan Kfar Hamra and Ma'aret al-Arteek theObservatory said all in the west of the province whereinsurgents from the Free Syrian Army who are covered by thetruce have operated.
Two videos sent by a rebel commander to Reuters shows astrike in another town Harbnafseh at 6.30am (0430 GMT)andanother at 07:00am (0500 GMT) according to the voice in thevideo. The footage shows plumes of smoke rising into the sky.
Russia said on Saturday that it would suspend all flightsover Syria for one day to ensure no targets covered by the trucewere hit by mistake.
Reuters