Maaret Al-Numan (Syria): Russian air strikes on a market in northwestern Syria killed 23 people on Monday, a monitor said, in the latest violence to plague the country's last major opposition bastion.
Moscow, however, denied it was responsible, calling the reports “fake”.
The jihadist-run Idlib region, home to some three million people, is supposed to be protected by a months-old international truce deal, but it has come under increased bombardment by the Syrian regime and its ally Russia since late April.
The spike in violence has killed more than 650 civilians and damaged or knocked out of service two dozen health facilities.
More than 3,30,000 people have fled violence in the area over the past three months, according to the United Nations.
On Monday morning, 19 civilians and four people still to be identified were killed in raids that hit a vegetable market and surrounding areas in the town of Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
