UPDATE – 3 killed in attacks on Syria's de-escalation zones

UPDATES WITH DEATH TOLL, MORE INJURIES</p> <p>By Esref Musa</p> <p>ANKARA (AA) – A total of three civilians were killed and nine others injured in regime’s attacks on residential areas in Syria’s northern de-escalation zones on Tuesday, local sources said.</p> <p>Rocket and mortar attacks by regime forces and allied Iran-backed foreign terrorist groups targeted Idlib province's Hobait village, Hama province's Qalaat Al-Madiq town and the villages of Kafrnabuda, Al-Huwaiz, Al-Huwaija, Al-Tuwayna and Al-Kirkat, the sources said.</p> <p>One civilian lost his life in Kafrnabuda and six others were injured in Hobait and Al-Huwaiz villages, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.</p> <p>A health center was targeted by a regime warplane in Hobait village which left it out of service, according to the same sources.</p> <p>A school has also been targeted by an airstrike in Idlib province's Al-Kassabiya village.</p> <p>According to the Syrian opposition aircraft observatory, airstrikes on Kafrnabuda and Al-Kassabiya villages have been carried by Russian jets which took off from the Khmeimim airbase in Syria’s western Latakia province.</p> <p>Hours later, two more civilians were killed and three others injured in regime’s warplanes shelling in towns of Abidin and Uraynibah.</p> <p>Last September, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression would be strictly prohibited.</p> <p>Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected severity.</p> <p>* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat