Last week, Russia reported a failed push by al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front out of Idlib Province into Syrian government territory in Hama. In the course of repelling them, Russia claimed some 850 Nusra fighters were slain.
What followed since then was an increase in airstrikes against Idlib Province territory by both Syrian and Russian warplanes. The opposition Civil Defense group is now reporting 152 civilians killed in the course of those strikes.
The accuracy of either of those figures is impossible to prove, and both the Russian military and the Civil Defense have a history of hard to believe high death tolls in incidents that no one else seems to have documented as being nearly so massive.
Still, airstrikes have been confirmed to escalate in Nusra-held parts of Idlib, and given that includes residential areas, it’s highly probable those strikes have meant substantial civilian deaths and injuries. As with so much of the war, however, true numbers may never be known.
