“Save the Children” organization condemns the killing of 13 children in shelling by the Assad regime forces in northwest Syria

In a statement, Save the Children condemned the killing of at least 13 children in northwestern Syria, during the past days.

The organization stated that the artillery shelling and the continuous air raids, since last Thursday, have targeted civilian sites in the ceasefire area in the Idlib and Aleppo surroundings.

The organization stated in its statement that the majority of the children who were killed in the bombing ranged between the ages of four and 14, pointing to the killing of an infant who did not complete his first year.

The organization indicated that the attacks have increased in intensity recently, and reached their peak a few days before the Eid al-Adha holiday, indicating that this is not the first time that children have been killed before the Eid.

“It is heartbreaking to see innocent children in northwest Syria spend their days in fear, after they were eager to get new clothes or toys, and instead are hiding to escape the violence and grieving for their Those who lost their brothers and friends.”

The Organization added, “We cannot talk about a permanent ceasefire when children are killed and maimed almost on a daily basis. These violations are contrary to the promises to respect the cessation of hostilities agreed upon by the warring parties, and such attacks prove that the ceasefire is nothing more than ink on paper.”

In its statement, the organization urged all parties to respect international humanitarian law, and to avoid targeting civilian areas.

The Organization stressed that any other violations would mean that the ceasefire was no longer in effect, amid the intensification of violence that the region had not witnessed since before the truce was announced.

Yesterday, Sunday, the Civil Defense announced that a child was killed and three women and two children from one family were wounded, with laser-guided “Krasnopol” shells targeting the vicinity of the city of Darat Izza in the western countryside of Aleppo.

The Assad regime forces also carried out two massacres with similar bombardment, last Saturday, in the villages of Ihsem and Sarja in the southern countryside of Idlib, in which ten civilians, including four children, were killed, and the countryside of Idlib, Hama and Latakia suffers violations almost daily by the Assad regime forces.