Russian-led airstrikes killed at least 18 people on Tuesday in northwest Syria where a major government offensive to clear out rebels has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing toward the border with Turkey, residents and rescuers said.
They said a family of eight including six children was killed in the rural village of Kfar Taal west of government-controlled Aleppo while another four civilians were killed in Maardabseh in the southeast of Idlib province.
At least eight other civilians were killed in other strikes by Russian and Syrian government warplanes on rural opposition areas that have been hit hard since the Russian-led military campaign, supplemented by Iranian militias, began in December.
It has left dozens of towns in ruins and knocked down hospitals sand schools, U.N. aid agencies say.