Warplanes target Syria’s Idlib province, killing 5

At least five people were killed early Thursday by airstrikes carried out in Syria's Idlib province, according to the White Helmets civil-defense agency.

Mustafa Haj Yusuf, White Helmets director in Idlib, told Anadolu Agency that Syrian regime and Russian warplanes had targeted a number of villages in the province, including Khan Shaykhun, Saraqib, Sahyan and Tal Tofan.

"Five civilians were killed and eight injured by airstrikes in Idlib's southern and eastern countryside," Yusuf said, adding that the injured had since been taken to nearby hospitals for treatment.

Notably, Idlib falls within a network of de-escalation zones -- endorsed by Turkey, Russia and Iran -- in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

Nevertheless, over the course of the last two weeks, at least 65 civilians have been killed -- and scores more injured -- by regime and Russian attacks in Idlib.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.