Air Strike Hits Refugee Camp In Northern Syria

By RFE/RLMay 05, 2016

Syrian pro-opposition activists say an air strike has hit a refugee camp in northern Syria, near the border with Turkey, killing 28 people displaced from the country's devastating civil war.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a camp in Sarmada, in northwestern Idlib Province near the Turkish border, was struck on the afternoon of May 5.

It was not clear who carried out the air strike and the observatory did not immediately have a breakdown of the casualties.

The Local Coordination Committees network says first responders are at the site, extinguishing fires that have erupted in the impacted zone. 

A photo that was posted on the LCC's Facebook page shows at least a dozen tents burned to the ground.

The attack came just hours after a twin bombing in the central province of Homs killed at least 10 people and wounded scores, state media and the regional governor said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Islamic State extremist group has claimed to be behind several similar deadly attacks in Homs Province.

Meanwhile, relative calm prevailed in the northern city of Aleppo, which has been the center of violence in recent weeks following a truce announced the day before by U.S. officials in agreement with Russia. 

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Aleppo will eventually be victorious, comparing the Syrian government forces' resistance in the city to the protracted World War II battle of Stalingrad.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP