UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th January, 2019) The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expressed concern regarding reports of civilians being killed in the conflict in northern Syria, UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said in a press briefing on Friday.
"Our humanitarian colleagues are extremely concerned by reports that civilians, including women and children, have been killed and injured due to ongoing intense hostilities between non-state armed groups in north-western Syria," Haq said.
Earlier in the day, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that eight civilians, including three children and a nurse, were killed in the clashes between Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the movement of the Nour al-Dien al-Zenki of the National Liberation Front (NLF) in the western countryside of Aleppo.
The clashes between the groups intensified on Tuesday after the al-Qaida-linked terrorist coalition HTS (banned in Russia) had accused the Nour al-Dien al-Zenki of killing five of its fighters and started an offensive against rebels' positions. The number of casualties of the HTS rose to at least 55 and the number of killed fighters from the NLF movement rose to 44, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Earlier in the day, state-run SANA news agency reported that at least 10 civilians, including four children, were killed in a US-led international coalition airstrike on a village in Deir ez-Zor province on Friday.
Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011, with the government forces fighting against numerous opposition groups and terrorist organizations.
