Regime shelling kills four children in northwest Syria - rights groups

At least four children of one family were killed and five others were seriously wounded five as artillery shelling by Syrian regime forces targeted residential neighborhoods in Qastoun village, west of Hama.

A woman and a man were also injured as the regime forces attacked Zayadiya village, the Syrian Civil Defense team also know as The White Helmets reported on Sunday.

All victims in the village of Qastoun in the Hama province were from the same family, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday.

READ MORE: Escalatory violence is Russia’s stick — and carrot ahead of Syria talks

The Idlib region is home to nearly three million people, two-thirds of them displaced from other parts of the country during the decade-long civil war.

A ceasefire deal brokered by regime ally Russia and opposition backer Turkey has largely protected the region from a new government offensive since March 2020.

But regime forces have stepped up their shelling on the south of the bastion since June.

Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad took the oath of office for a new term last month, vowing to make "liberating those parts of the homeland that still need to be" one of his top priorities.

Syria's war has killed around half a million people since starting in 2011 with a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.

READ MORE: Bashar al Assad’s Daraa offensive reveals the limits of Russian power