By AFP

LEBANON: At least 14 children were among 21 people killed in an air strike in Syria's northwestern Idlib province at dawn on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

The monitor said the strikes were believed to have been carried out by Russian warplanes on the provincial capital Idlib city, which is controlled by jihadists and their Islamist rebel allies.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information, says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.

An AFP correspondent at the scene saw two buildings completely destroyed, adding that the buildings had been housing people displaced from Aleppo province.

Local civil defence workers used bulldozers and their hands to clear large mounds of rubble.

Yahya Arjah, a member of the White Helmets group, said they had pulled two people alive from the rubble.

The Observatory said the strikes hit the Al-Qasur neighbourhood of the city, which is the capital of surrounding Idlib province.

It said 14 of the dead were members of a single family, and also said the dead included people displaced from the north of Aleppo province, which neighbours Idlib.

More than 320,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began six years ago with anti-government protests.

Russia began a military intervention in Syria in September 2015, and in the past has dismissed allegations of civilian deaths in its strikes.</s>White Helmets rescuing women and children from the rubble by the Russian warplanes targeted the city of Idlib @HopeSarout @indigochild585 pic.twitter.com/y7reZxljHm</s>BEIRUT: Air strikes pounded Syria's rebel-held Idlib province on Wednesday, killing at least nine people, including children, a war monitoring group said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said planes, believed to be Russian, struck the northwestern city of Idlib and the town of Maarat Misrin in the countryside.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian first responders say they have tallied 22 civilian fatalities from a presumed Russian or Syrian government airstrike on the rebel-held city of Idlib.

The Civil Defense search-and-rescue group, also known as the White Helmets, said 15 children have been reported killed by the pre-dawn airstrike today in northwest Syria. It said its rescuers had been working all day to reach victims in the rubble.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported 21 civilians killed. It said the aircraft behind the attack were believed to be Russian. Syrian government aircraft are also known to fly raids over Idlib. The attack occurred in the city's Qasour neighborhood.
Suspected Russian warplanes carry out airstrikes on the city of Idlib at dawn, killing 21 people including at least 14 children.