Syrian civilians killed by Russian air attacks on Idlib: report

Air attacks in the Syrian province of Idlib killed at least 46 civilians on Sunday, including theree children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said.

At least 26 civilians were killed in suspected Russian strikes on the town of Kafr Nabel, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said.

Hossam Hosber, who witnessed one of the attacks in Kafr Nabel, told the AFP news agency that "six strikes hit houses and a crowded local market".

The group said 18 people were also killed in suspected Russian strikes on the town of Maaret al-Numan, where an AFP photographer saw rescue workers and residents trying to pull survivors from the rubble at a vegetable market.

The Observatory reported two additional deaths, one in an earlier strike on Maaret al-Numan and another in Al-Naqir, also in Idlib. It said the strikes appeared to have been carried out by Russian jets.

The Observatory says it determines whose planes carried out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved.

Russia began a military intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad in September 2015, saying it was carrying out strikes against "terrorists".

It denies that its strikes have caused civilians casualties.

In November Russia's defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said Russian forces had begun a "major operation" targeting Idlib and Homs provinces.

The northern Idlib province is mostly controlled by the "Army of Conquest". The group includes the Nusra Front, which has recently renamed itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and claimed to have broken links with al-Qaeda.

Most of Homs province is controlled by the Syrian government, but small parts of the countryside in the region are controlled by a range of rebel groups.

Kafr Nabal gained fame in the early years of Syria's conflict for the creative, topical and sometimes humourous placards and banners carried by protesters at weekly demonstrations against the government.