'12 dead, dozens wounded in air strikes on Syria markets'

At least 12 civilians including two children were killed and dozens more wounded today in air strikes that hit food markets in two northwestern Syrian towns, a monitor said.
"At least seven civilians including a child were killed in raids on a fish market in Kafranbel and five others - also including a child - died in similar strikes on a vegetable market in Maaret al-Numan" in Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that the strikes were likely carried out by regime forces.
Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front is present across much of Idlib province and recently made inroads into Maaret al-Numan.

Elsewhere in the province, the Observatory said that three children were killed in shelling by Islamist rebels on the government-held village of Kafraya.
In Damascus province, at least seven people were killed in strikes on Bala, in the rebel-stronghold region of Eastern Ghouta, the monitor added.
A ceasefire deal agreed between the United States and Russia, which came into effect in February, excludes areas controlled by Al-Nusra and the Islamic State group.
The truce however has been strained by increased fighting around second city Aleppo, and in other areas of Syria, where both the regime and its opponents have accused each other of a string of breaches.

Syria's main opposition group said Monday it was suspending its official participation in UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva over what it said was the government's repeated "violations" of the truce.