Suspected Russian air strikes killed at least 54 civilians in rebel and jehadi-held areas of Syria in the past 24 hours, a monitoring group said on Thursday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said strikes on Wednesday had killed 29 civilians, including nine women and three children, in villages controlled by the ISIS group in the eastern Deir Ezzor province and its provincial capital.
The strikes killed another 15 civilians, including five young brothers, in and around the city of Al-Bab, an ISIS bastion in the northern province of Aleppo, the Observatory said.
Ten more civilians, including seven children, were killed in Russian strikes in Ghanto, a town held by Islamist rebels in the central province of Homs, it said.
The Britain-based monitor relies on a network of activists on the ground and says it distinguishes between Syrian, Russian and US-led coalition aircraft based on flight patterns, as well as the type of planes and ordnance used.
Russia launched air strikes in Syria in September in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, a key ally. The US-led coalition has been carrying out strikes against IS targets in Syria and Iraq since the summer of 2014.
Russian backing has helped Assad’s forces make significant advances in recent months and the Observatory said Thursday that
regime troops had moved to within eight kilometres (five miles) of Al-Bab.