EU calls for protecting inhabitants of Syria’s Idlib

The European Union on Friday called for protecting inhabitants of Syria's northwestern Idlib province and ensuring humanitarian access to the province.

"With the marked increase of airstrikes over Idlib province and northern Hama over the past weeks and days, we are once again running the risk of a dangerous escalation in Idlib," said a statement by the EU spokesperson.

"The civilian population cannot afford this risk: they have already suffered far too much," the statement added.

EU noted that the recent attacks have been carried out on densely-populated areas, homes, medical facilities, and settlements for internally displaced people.

It drew attention to the importance of the Sochi agreement reached last September, where the Astana guarantors Turkey, Russia and Iran committed to safeguard Idlib as a de-escalation zone.

"This agreement needs to hold: a military escalation in Idlib would put at risk the lives of more than three million civilians living in the region," the statement said.

It said: "Only a political process that respects the freedom and the dignity of all Syrian people in accordance with UNSC Resolution 2254 and the Geneva Communiqué can bring about a lasting solution to the conflict".

On Thursday, five civilians were killed in attacks by Assad regime forces on residential areas located inside northern Syria's de-escalation zones.

Overnight airstrikes and artillery attacks targeted the villages of Kansafra, Termela, Bsekla Has and Abdin in Idlib province, along with the village of Al-Huwaiz and the town of Kafrnabuda in Hama province, sources said.

In Kansafra and Bsekla, the attacks left five civilians dead, including a woman and two children, according to the White Helmets civil-defense agency.

Last September, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression would be strictly prohibited.