No fewer than 45 people, including rebel fighters and members of their families, were killed in overnight Russian airstrikes in Syria’s coastal mountains, a monitoring group said today.
75 people were also injured in the raids on the Jabal al-Akrad area, near the mountain front lines between government forces and rebels, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
Among those killed was the commander of the First Coastal Division, a moderate rebel group that has reportedly received arms supplies from the U.S., the group stated.
The Jabal al-Akrad area in the north of the mountain range is held by rebels.
The area has seen fierce battles over the past two weeks as Russian airstrikes tried to regain territories lost to the opposition.