Seven more civilians killed in bombing of Syria's Idlib

Syria's Idlib province has been targeted in another day of punishing airstrikes on Saturday, with seven civilians killed in suspected Russian bombardments.

Two days of Syrian regime and Russian bombing have killed 20 civilians - including seven children - in northwestern Syria, a war monitor said Saturday.

Helicopters and aircraft carried out raids on Mahambel village in Idlib late Friday, killing 13 civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Seven more civilians were killed Saturday, including a woman hit by regime rocket fire on the outskirts of the town of Khan Sheikhoun southern Idlib, the monitor added.

Three members of the same family were killed in Russian bombing of the town of Morek in Hama province, the Observatory reported.

The opposition province of Idlib is home to around 3 million people, many of them refugees from other parts of Syria that have been re-taken by the regime.

Idlib is covered by a demilitarised zone which should protect it from regime assaults following a September deal between Moscow and Ankara.

But the regime and Russia have both launched a punishing assault on the opposition province since late April, killing more than 500 civilians.

The UN has said that 25 health facilities in the region have been hit in strikes, which Russia is accused of carrying out.

The latest is the second attack in two months on an underground hospital in the town of Kafranbel on Thursday.

"The attacks happened despite the fact that the coordinates of this hospital had previously been shared with the parties to the conflict in a deliberate, carefully planned effort to prevent any attacks on it," an UN official said on Friday.

"I am horrified by the ongoing attacks on civilian areas and civilian infrastructure as the conflict in northwest Syria continues," said Mark Cutts, UN deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syrian crisis.

Syria's war has killed around 500,000 people since 2011, the vast majority civilians from regime attacks.