Four killed in regime airstrikes on Syria’s Deraa province

Published February 20th, 2017 - 07:00 GMT
Syrian civil defense volunteers, known as the White Helmets, search for survivors following reported government airstrike on the rebel-held town of Douma, east of Damascus, on February 19, 2017. (AFP/Sameer al-Doumy)
Syrian civil defense volunteers, known as the White Helmets, search for survivors following reported government airstrike on the rebel-held town of Douma, east of Damascus, on February 19, 2017. (AFP/Sameer al-Doumy)

At least four people were killed and eight others injured Sunday when Syrian regime warplanes carried out an airstrike in the southern province of Deraa, according to a local civil-defense source.

Nibras Horani, a pro-opposition civil defense official based in Deraa, told Anadolu Agency that the warplanes hit a residential area in Nassib district near Jordanian border.

"Airstrikes caused heavy damage to several buildings in the area," Horani added.

The airstrikes came despite a ceasefire deal brokered by Turkey and Russia that went into effect on December 30 throughout war-torn Syria.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the regime of Bashar al-Assad cracked down on pro-democracy protests – which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings – with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-torn country, according to the UN, but the Syrian Center for Policy Research puts the death toll at more than 470,000.

By Halit Suleyman and Ayse Aktas