DAMASCUS, 19 July 2021, (TON): Syrian regime artillery fire killed at least five civilians including two children in the country’s last major rebel bastion of Idlib.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “the shelling took place in the village of Ehsim, in the south of Idlib region.”

A family member told Media that visitors had gathered to congratulate a male relative on getting married when the shelling hit their home.

Earlier in the day, rockets fired by pro-government forces killed six people in the village of Sarja, including three children and a rescue worker, meaning at least 11 were killed in total in Idlib.

The shelling at Ehsim came hours after President Bashar al-Assad took the oath of office for a fourth term, pledging to “liberate” areas still beyond government control.

The deaths are the latest violations of a ceasefire deal agreed by Turkey and Russia in March 2020 to stem a regime offensive on the jihadist-dominated stronghold.

Rescue workers under floodlights cut through a collapsed ceiling to retrieve the body of a woman.

Bundling her body up in a blanket, they then gently lowered it down a ladder and carried it into an ambulance.

Bordering Turkey, the northwestern Idlib region is home to around three million people, more than half displaced by fighting in other parts of war-torn Syria. Many rely on humanitarian aid to survive.