Syrian regime bombings in northwest Syria kill 46: MSF

Scores of people have been killed and injured in attacks by Syrian regime forces in rebel-held northwest Syria since 3 October, the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has said.

The bombardment has killed 46 people and injured 279, including women and children, MSF reported. It has also displaced at least 78,000 people and hindered aid distribution across the region.

The head of MSF mission to northwest Syria, Siham Hajaj, condemned the attacks saying they were "unacceptable and have disastrous consequences for already vulnerable people".

"All warring parties should respect International Humanitarian Law, protect people and civilian infrastructure, and safeguard medical facilities," he added.

#WhiteHelmets teams extinguished a fire that broke out in a warehouse on the road to the town of Afs in eastern #Idlib was extinguished, following artillery shelling by regime forces, yesterday, Sunday, October 8th.#Syria pic.twitter.com/3AJqsJmH5A

— The White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) October 9, 2023

The casualties caused by the bombardment meant that 19 hospitals in Idlib province and rebel-held parts of Aleppo province had ceased normal services. Three hospitals in Idlib were hit during the shelling.

In addition to hospitals, the bombardment also targeted camps for internally displaced people, with Al-Sanaa camp in Darat Izza having to evacuate due to the shelling.

The Syria Campaign's Executive Director, under the pseudonym Laila Kiki, called the bombardment a "blatant breach to the ceasefire agreement of March 5, 2020," and called on Turkey, a guarantor of the agreement, to ensure the regime stopped all such bombardments.

The regime's bombardment of northwest Syria began following a drone attack on a graduation ceremony for Syrian regime army officers at the Homs Military Academy that killed at least 89 people, according to the Syrian Regime's health ministry, although the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the toll above 120 people.

The attack was one of the largest strikes against the Syrian military since the Syrian conflict began in 2011. 

Mohamed Katoub, the former advocacy manager for the Syrian American Medical Society, told The New Arab that the intense response could be a message towards the regime's enemies, amid ongoing protests in Suwayda and increasing dissent in regime territory. 

This includes Turkey, which has been conducting a campaign against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria.

He said the regime's bombardment could be a show of strength, also to its own supporters.

Ultimately, Katoub said that the response is part of what he called the regime's language of violence.

"The regime and other parties to the conflict can’t get any progress without a war, war and [the] military are their strength," he said.