PHOTO: Medic treats boy wounded in Thursday regime airstrike on Idlib Province in northwest Syria

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Scores of civilians have been killed in the regime’s latest bombings across rebel-controlled Idlib Province in northwest Syria.

At least 30 people were slain on Thursday and dozens wounded, mainly in Urm al-Jouz and Ma’arat Misrin. Shelling is continuing on Friday.

Ma’arat Misrin is to the northwest of the besieged regime enclaves of Fu’ah and Kafarya. On Wednesday, the Jaish al-Fatah rebel coalition announced shelling and rocket attacks of the enclaves, retaliating for the Hezbollah-regime assault upon the town of Zabadani in Damascus Province.

Hundreds of people have been killed in Idlib Province by regime airstrikes, including by barrel bombs and chlorine gas canisters, since a rebel offensive captured almost all of the area — including the provincial capital of Idlib city, Jisr al-Shughour on the Turkish border, and most of the regime’s military bases — this spring.


Video: Free Syrian Army Reclaims Village in al-Ghab Plain in Hama Province

The Free Syrian Army says it has retaken another village in the back-and-forth fighting in the al-Ghab Plain in northern Hama Province.

The FSA posted video claiming to be of fighters in Khirbat al-Naqus, with a captured regime T-55 tank.

The rebel coalition Jaish al-Fateh has also regained Tal Wassit and Mansoura after they were briefly held by the regime earlier this week.

See Syria Daily, July 16: Villages Handed Back and Forth in Fighting in al-Ghab Plain in Hama Province

Jaish al-Fateh footage from Khirbat al-Naqus:

Rebels moved into the plain, taking about one-third of it, after they captured almost all of neighboring Idlib Province this spring.


Report: Commander of Regime’s T4 Airbase Killed by Islamic State

The opposition site All4Syria, citing pro-regime outlets, says the commander of the regime’s T4 airbase — the largest in Syria — has been killed in fighting with the Islamic State.

The site said Brigadier Nawaf Abdul Karim Shaheen had died as the militants renewed their attacks on T4, west of Palmyra in Homs Province.

The Islamic State, which closed on T4 this spring in an offensive across the province, stepped up its assault on the perimeter this week. The militants captured a nearby village and began positioning Grad rockets to hit targets within the airbase.

See Syria Daily, July 15: Islamic State Showdown with Assad Forces Near Palmyra

Earlier this week Major General Mohsen Makhlouf, commander of a tank battalion, was killed in fighting with the Islamic State near Palmyra, as the regime tries to mount an offensive to retake the historic city that it lost in May.


Video: President Assad at Prayers for End of Ramadan

Footage of President Assad at this morning’s prayers for Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan: