At least one civilian, a 5-year-old girl, was killed, and five others were injured in artillery strikes carried out by the Syrian army on northwestern Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in the region, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The heavy shelling by regime forces targeted agricultural areas around the villages of Maarbalit and Maarzaf, southeast of Idlib. The wounded civilians suffered varying degrees of injuries, SOHR reported.

Syrian regime forces also shelled the towns of Nairab, San, Majdalaya, and Benin in eastern Idlib, while a suicide drone from the regime targeted the outskirts of Deir Sunbul village in the southern Idlib countryside. In retaliation, Syrian rebels shelled Syrian army positions in the Shorin and Jabal al-Ahmar camps, according to SOHR.

The escalating violence continued with at least seven Russian airstrikes targeting rebel-held sites in Idlib and Latakia provinces on the same day.

Idlib province, along with parts of Aleppo, Hama, and Latakia, remains one of the last rebel-held areas in Syria after President Bashar al-Assad regained much of the country during the brutal civil war, which began in 2011.

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, controls significant areas of Idlib and parts of Aleppo, Hama, and Latakia. HTS, which is recognized internationally as a terrorist organization, is the most powerful faction among numerous rebel groups operating in the northwest.

A ceasefire, brokered by Russia and Turkey, has been in place in the region since March 2020, but recent weeks have seen a spike in violence.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 13 million Syrians have been displaced since the civil war began, with more than six million refugees fleeing the country.