Explosion kills 32, injures scores in Syria’s Idlib

By Esref Musa

IDLIB

At least 32 people were killed in an explosion in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province on Sunday, according to the White Helmets civil defense agency.

The blast took place in Sarmada district, where civilians displaced from the northern Homs province live, White Helmets director in Idlib Mustafa Haj Youssef told Anadolu Agency.

He said some 45 civilians have also been injured in the explosion, which destroyed two 6-storey buildings inhabited by displaced civilians.

According to Haj, 13 civilians have been rescued from under the debris of destroyed buildings.

It remains unclear what the cause of the explosion was.

Located in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border, Idlib was designated a “de-escalation zone” in May where acts of aggression are expressly forbidden.

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

UN officials estimates that hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict.

*Ali Murat Alhas contributed to this story from Ankara