Russian strikes kill at least 42 civilians in Syria's Idlib province

Russian jets launched airstrikes on a district in Syria’s Idlib province on Thursday, killing at least 42 civilians and leaving scores injured.

Mustafa Haj Yousuf, director of the White Helmets civil defense agency said late on Thursday that at least 42 civilians were killed, 72 others were injured in the air strikes targeting a marketplace in Harem.

Civil defense teams are maintaining their search and rescue operations.

According to opposition sources, the warplanes took off from Khmeimim Airbase in Syria’s Latakia province and conducted several airstrikes in and around the district.

It came just a day after an air raid on a different part of Idlib, the town of Kafr Batikh, killed at least 20 civilians - including 16 children - near a school.

At least 98 people have been killed, 134 others were injured by airstrikes in opposition-held parts of Idlib and Hama provinces in the last two weeks.

Syria remains locked in a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.

According to UN officials, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict.