International

Air strikes killed 19 people in a village in Syria’s rebel stronghold of Idlib overnight, a rescue service and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday.

The Observatory, a Britain-based war monitoring group, said Syrian government or Russian aircraft struck the village. There was no immediate comment from the Syrian military or Russia, which have both repeatedly said they only target militants.

The strikes pounded the town of Maar Shureen in the northwestern province of Idlib and the dead included seven children, the Observatory said.

Idlib’s civil defence, a rescue service known as the White Helmets which operates in rebel territory, said fierce bombing after midnight killed 19 people.

The Observatory said 25 others had been injured.