Syria conflict: Deadly air strike on market as truce hopes rise

Scores were wounded in Idlib, reports say

An air strike on a market in the rebel-held Syrian city of Idlib killed at least 20 people hours after the US and Russia announced plans for a truce.

As many as 90 people were also injured, media and opposition activists said, when a busy vegetable market was targeted by unidentified aircraft. A 10-day truce is meant to start on Monday, followed by co-ordinated air strikes against jihadist militants.


Turkey and the EU welcomed the plan but warned that further action was needed. Turkey said aid must be delivered from the very start while EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini looked towards a "political transition".

A spokeswoman for Syria's opposition said the plan provided some hope but more details were needed about how it would be enforced. In the Syrian capital Damascus, the government endorsed the deal, the state news agency Sana reported.

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There has been no official reaction from Iran which, like Russia, is allied to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The conflict in Syria, which began with an uprising against Mr Assad, has raged for five years and claimed the lives of more than a quarter of a million people.

Millions have fled abroad, many of them seeking asylum in the EU, but nearly 18 million people remain in Syria, which has been carved up by fighting between government and rebel forces.
In other fighting on Saturday:

• Rocket attacks on government-held areas of the eastern city of Deir al-Zour by so-called Islamic State (IS) killed at least seven people, Syrian state media say

• Israeli aircraft struck targets inside Syria after a projectile hit the Israeli-controlled part of the Golan Heights

• Reports spoke of air strikes by Syrian or Russian jets on the towns of Anadan and Hreitan near Aleppo