Russian warplanes have attacked targets in central and northern Syria with a wave of new airstrikes, Syrian and Russian military officials said Saturday as an activist group said Russia’s air raids have killed 39 civilians over the three past days, FOX News reported citing the Associated Press.
The new airstrikes came as residents of Syria’s central regions fear the Russians are paving the way for a ground offensive by the government on several towns in the central province of Hama and the northwestern region of Idlib — where the Syrian army suffered major setbacks over the past months, activists said.
In Damascus, an unnamed Syrian military official was quoted by state TV as saying that the “concentrated and precise” airstrikes destroyed a command center in the central town of Latamneh in Hama province and targeted positions in the northwestern areas of Jisr al-Shughour and Maaret al-Numan.
Konashenkov said equipment and weapons storage facilities were destroyed in a strike near Jisr al-Shughour and an ammunition depot was destroyed in Maaret al-Numan.
The ISIS group has no presence in the northwestern province of Idlib, which includes Jisr al-Shughour and Maaret al-Numan.
The Russian airstrikes that began Wednesday have mainly targeted central and northwestern Syria, strategic regions that are the gateway to President Bashar Assad’s strongholds in the capital, Damascus, and along the Mediterranean coast.
Russia says it is targeting the IS group and Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, but at least some of the strikes appear to have hit Western-backed rebel factions.
Later Saturday the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said warplanes believed to be Russian attacked the central town of Hobeit in Idlib province.
The air raid came as hundreds of people fled their homes in areas near Hobeit fearing a ground offensive by government forces, activists said.
The Observatory’s chief Rami Abdurrahman said the first three days of Russian airstrikes on Syria have killed 39 civilians
The Observatory said that Russian warplanes struck a hospital in the mountains of the coastal province of Latakia causing damage but no casualties.
International charity group Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF, said the hospital was formerly run by the group but has since been handed over to local medical groups.
“What we can confirm is that the hospital has been damaged by strikes, but the staff has been able to evacuate safely and there are no causalities,” said Yazan Al-Saadi, MSF’s spokeswoman in Beirut.
Russian Defense Ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.
Politically, the main Western-backed opposition group and dozens of rebel factions said a plan by the U.N. chief envoy to end Syria’s civil war will not work in its present form and needs major amendments.
The National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces said the amendments needed to make it clear that Assad and top officials in his authority have no place in any political process and that government security agencies be dissolved.
The rebel groups that signed the statement included the powerful Ahrar al-Sham and Islam Army.
The statement said the Russian airstrikes show that Moscow, which hosted several rounds of talks between rival Syrian groups, “was never a fair mediator but part of the conflict and a main ally for the criminal regime.”