UNITED NATIONS, June 11 (Agencies): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an investigation of air strikes believed to have been carried out by Russian jets in Syria, killing dozens including children.
The air attack on the night of June 07 to 08 targeted the village of Zardana in Idlib province and left 44 dead including six children, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
In a statement, Guterres expressed "deep concern" about the strikes and called for a "full investigation into the attacks, especially allegations that there was also a second strike targeting first responders, to establish accountability."
He recalled that Idlib is part of the de-escalation agreement for Syria reached between Turkey, Russia and Iran and urged those guarantors to uphold their commitment.
Most of Idlib province is held by an array of Islamist and jihadist groups with only parts controlled by the Russian-backed government.
Since Russia intervened in its support in 2015, the government has regained control of around half of the country.
More than 350,000 people have been killed in the Syrian war since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
Meanwhile, an escalation in fighting and air strikes in Syria's rebel-held Idlib province leaves 2.5 million civilians with "no place else to go" within their shattered homeland, the United Nations said on Monday.
Panos Moumtzis, the UN regional humanitarian coordinator, called on major powers to broker a settlement to end the war and avoid a bloodbath in Idlib.
The northwest province, bordering Turkey, has become a "dumping ground" for civilians and fighters evacuated from other opposition-controlled areas, swelling its population, he said.
"With this escalation, this deterioration, we worry really about seeing 2-1/2 million people becoming displaced more and more toward the border of Turkey if this is to continue," Moumtzis told a news briefing in Geneva.
"We also worry that for the people of Idlib, there is no other Idlib to take them out to, really this is the last location," he said.
Moumtzis cited reports of a deadly air strike on Sunday that had killed 11 people and hit a pediatric hospital.
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