Schoolchildren killed in Syria air raids
Several buildings in the village of Haas were flattened by the air strikes
Several buildings in the village of Haas were flattened by the air strikes

[BBC] – More than 20 people, many of them children, have been killed in air strikes on a rebel-held village in north-western Syria, activists say. A school complex was reportedly among several locations targeted in the village of Haas, in Idlib province.

It was not immediately clear if the raids were carried out by Syrian government or Russian warplanes. State media quoted a military source as saying several “terrorists” had been killed when their positions were hit.

The incident comes as the government and its ally Russia said they would continue a moratorium on the aerial bombardment of besieged, rebel-held eastern districts of the city of Aleppo. The attack on Haas, about 75km (46 miles) south-west of Aleppo, appears to have been intense, reports the BBC’s James Longman in Beirut.

The Syria Civil Defence, whose rescue workers are known as the White Helmets, said a complex containing three schools was targeted. Activists shared photographs of bloodied corpses, many of them children, lining the floors of a makeshift treatment centre.

The Syria Civil Defence said initial reports were of more than 20 people being killed, while the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 22, including 14 children and a teacher.

Both groups said some of the wounded were in a critical condition. Our correspondent says Idlib is one of the last strongholds of the Syrian opposition. The area is where civilians from eastern Aleppo would be sent under faltering UN ceasefire plans.

That effort is still ongoing, our correspondent adds, but while Russia’s bombardments of eastern Aleppo have stopped the government’s ground offensive continues – meaning aid deliveries and evacuations cannot take place.

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