Air raids kill 23 civilians in extremist-held Syria town

A civil defence member carries a dead child in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the rebel-controlled area of Maaret al-Numan town in Idlib province, Syria.PHOTO: REUTERS

BEIRUT: 

Twenty-three civilians including nine children were killed in air strikes on a town in eastern Syria held by the Islamic State extremist group on Thursday, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it did not know whether Syrian regime or Russian warplanes carried out the strikes on Al-Mayadin in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.

A US-Russian brokered truce in force since Monday does not include areas where IS is present.