Schoolchildren among 35 dead in Syria air strike

Air strikes by Syrian or Russian warplanes on Wednesday killed at least 35 people, most of them schoolchildren, in a village in Syria's rebel-held Idlib province

27 October 2016, 8:42am

1 min read

A damaged classroom is pictured after shelling in the rebel held town of Hass, south of Idlib province, Syria PHOTO: Reuters

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Air strikes on Syria's rebel-held Idlib province hit a school and the surrounding area on Wednesday, killing at least 35 civilians including many children, a monitor and activists said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "warplanes, either Russia or Syrian, carried out six strikes" in the village of Hass, including on a school complex.

Eleven schoolchildren were among the dead, said the Britain-based monitor.

The raids hit Hass around 11:30am (9:30am CET), an activist with the opposition Idlib Media Centre told AFP news agency.

"One rocket hit the entrance of the school as students were leaving to go home, after the school administration decided to end classes for the day because of the raids," the activist said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The latest attacks raise the civilian death toll of those killed in air strikes on Idlib province in the past seven days to 89, said the Observatory.

Syrian government forces and their Russian ally have been accused by rights groups of carrying out indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure.