Regime airstrikes kill 9 civilians in Syria's Idlib

Airstrikes kill at least nine civilians in Idlib city as Turkey says they are discussing the establishment of a secure zone for civilians.

BEIRUT - Regime air strikes on Syria's last major opposition bastion killed at least nine civilians Wednesday, striking bustling areas of Idlib city despite a fresh Russian-sponsored truce, a war monitor said.

Those strikes came as Turkey and Russia were discussing the establishment of a secure zone within Syria's northwestern, jihadist-held Idlib region.

In addition to the nine deaths, at least 20 other civilians were wounded in the raids that hit a vegetable market and repair shops in Idlib, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based monitoring group said the death toll was likely to rise because many of the injured were in serious condition.

The bombardment charred several vehicles in the industrial zone, leaving torched corpses of motorists trapped inside, an AFP correspondent said.

One man was seen running towards the site of the attack, slapping his forehead with both hands in despair.

Mustafa, who runs a repair shop in the area, was lucky to escape with his life. He had just left the store to pick up some spare parts.

He said he returned to find the shop destroyed and his four employees trapped under rubble. It was not immediately clear if they had survived.

"This is not the neighbourhood I left two minutes ago!" Mustafa said, tears rolling down his face.

Idlib has come under mounting bombardment in recent weeks, displacing tens of thousands of people in the northwestern province home to some three million.

A truce brokered this month by regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey was in principle to have taken effect from Sunday.

It follows a truce announced in late August, after strikes by the regime and its Russian allies killed some 1,000 civilians in four months, according to the Observatory.

The Damascus government has repeatedly vowed to retake Idlib, which is run by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group dominated by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate.

Power brokers talk secure zone

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Wednesday that Ankara and Moscow were holding talks on the establishment of a secure zone in Idlib where Syrians displaced by fighting can shelter during the winter.

Akar said attacks by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces were continuing in the Idlib region despite the Jan. 12 ceasefire agreement reached by Turkey and Russia, which back opposing sides in Syria's nine-year conflict.

Witnesses and rebel sources said on Wednesday that Russian jets struck several rebel-held towns in southern Idlib, for the first time since the ceasefire came into force.

Turkey, which has backed Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad and already hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees, fears that the offensive will trigger another wave of civilians fleeing towards its border.

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday Turkey was determined to prevent the ceasefire breaking down to avoid 400,000 displaced people heading for Turkish territory.

Russia has said people could escape the attacks on opposition-held areas by crossing into territory controlled by Assad's forces, but Akar said that was not an option.

"Our Idlib friends who have become refugees don't want to go to a government-controlled area," he told reporters in Ankara. "We are in talks with the Russians on establishing a secure zone, where the people can spend the winter period."

His comments came two days after Turkish and Syrian intelligence chiefs met in Moscow on Monday, in the first publicly acknowledged meeting for years, and discussed the situation in Idlib.

Akar said Turkey had strengthened an observation post which has been surrounded by Syrian forces in the Idlib region, and would not be abandoning it.

Syria's war has killed more than 380,000 people including over 115,000 civilians since it broke out in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.