Airstrikes on rebel-held Syrian district kill 9 civilians

A series of airstrikes on an opposition-held district in the Syrian city of Homs, presumably carried out by Russia or Syria, killed at least nine civilians today, local activists said.

Pro-government forces shelled the city's al-Waer neighborhood with tank and artillery fire in conjunction with the airstrikes, the Local Coordination Committees, an activist network, reported.

Government forces have kept the opposition-held neighborhood under siege since 2013, according to the Washington-based Siege Watch. An estimated 75,000 people are trapped inside.

The local Civil Defense search-and-rescue team, also known as the White Helmets, said the airstrikes hit one of its centers in al-Waer, wounding one volunteer. The government and its allies have regularly targeted hospitals and first responder positions in the course of the Syrian civil war, which is approaching its seventh year.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that 9 civilians were killed in the raids. Homs is Syria's third-largest city. Government forces retook most of the city in 2014, effectively ending an anti-government protest movement that had gripped Homs since 2011.

The al-Waer assault comes one day after presumed Russian or Syrian government aircraft bombed the rebel-held city of Idlib and marks the second major violation of a month-old cease-fire between the government and rebels in as many days. The Observatory said 24 civilians were killed in 7 strikes across Idlib yesterday. The Idlib Civil Defense said 26 people were killed.

The December 30 cease-fire was brokered by Russia and Iran, both of which are key allies of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Turkey, which supports the opposition. Each side has accused the other of repeated violations.

Turkey is meanwhile in talks with Russia to coordinate troop movements around northern Syria to avoid any encounter with the Syrian military, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman told private NTV television today.

Syrian government forces and Turkish-backed opposition fighters are in a race to seize the town of al-Bab from the Islamic State group.

Turkish and Syrian forces have so far avoided direct conflict, despite hostile rhetoric between Erdogan and Assad. The twin offensives put the two forces within 3 kilometers of one another, on opposite sides of al-Bab.

Erdogan spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Turkish troops had reached the center of al-Bab and were fighting to secure it, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, said the Turkish force was still at the town's outskirts.