Medics treat a wounded child in al-Bara, Idlib Province, after Assad regime bombardment, June 15, 2019

UPDATE 1130:

Assad regime forces have struck another Turkish observation post in northwest Syria.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said the regime’s military launched an artillery attack from Idlib Province’s Tall Bazan area towards the post in Murak, three days after 35 mortar rounds were fired on another of the 12 observation points.

The Ministry said the attack, like Thursday’s, was “deliberate” and Turkish forces retaliated with heavy weapons. There was material damage but no casualties.

The statement said “necessary initiatives” were being pursued with Russia.

The Assad regime, burying the ceasefire declared by Russia on Wednesday, continued its attacks across northwest Syria on Saturday.

Regime forces tried to seize opposition territory in Hama Province and attacked civilian areas in neighboring Idlib Province, having complicated the situation for its Russian ally on Thursday with mortar fire on a Turkish observation post.

Residents reported waves of Grad rockets bombarding villages in southern Idlib Province, followed by airstrikes, on Saturday night. Earlier in the day, cluster munitions — banned under international humanitarian law — were dropped.

Multiple casualties were reported in the village of al-Bara — graphic images of dead children have been posted — and the town of Ma’arat al-Num’an was attacked again, with 3 men killed and 13 people injured, including 5 children.

In northern Hama, regime forces attacked the village of Jubayn, regained by rebels in a counter-offensive last week. After an initial advance, the Assad troops were repelled. Regime warplanes then bombed the area around Jubayn and the key hilltop town of Tal Maleh.

The pro-Assad blog Al Masdar acknowledged the loss, with 17 regime troops killed, 15 wounded, and 5 captured.

The retention of Tal Maleh means that rebels continue to control a road needed by the regime military for movement of personnel, weapons, and supplies.

A Russian-regime offensive began May 6, shattering a demilitarized zone declared by Russia and Turkey in September. It quickly took several towns and villages in northwest Hama Province, but was then checked by the rebels and the Islamist bloc Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.

A rebel counter-offensive 10 days ago regained some of the lost territory, exposing the limits of Russian airstrikes in backing the regime forces.

Meanwhile, Russian and regime bombardment has killed about 325 civilians, injured hundreds, and added to the displacement of more than 300,000 people since September. Almost 30 medical centers have been damaged or destroyed.

An estimated 3 million people — about 20% of Syria’s remaining population — live in Idlib and northern Hama.

Russia said on Wednesday that it had agreed a ceasefire with Turkey, whose military forces have been in northwest Syria alongside rebels since August 2016. But the Assad regime’s military never ceased its attacks, shelling and bombing civilian areas and striking one of 12 Turkish observation posts.

On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu issued pointed remarks, denouncing the assault on the observation post and attacks on civilians and declaring, “Russia needs to fulfill its responsibility here.”

Syria Daily, June 15: Turkish Criticism of Moscow Over Russia-Regime Offensive in Northwest

Journalist Hadi al-Abdallah reports on devastation in the town of Ehsim in Idlib, caused by airstrikes on Friday: