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Syria war: 'Explosion kills at least 23' in rebel-held Idlib Syria war: Explosion and air strikes in rebel-held Idlib 'kill 40'
(about 4 hours later)
At least 23 people are reportedly dead and many more injured after a large explosion in the rebel-held city of Idlib, in north-western Syria. At least 40 people have reportedly been killed in an explosion and a series of air strikes across the rebel-held north Syrian province of Idlib.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blast struck the headquarters of a minor rebel faction. The blast, on Sunday night outside the headquarters of the Islamist rebel faction Ajnad al-Qawqaz in the city of Idlib, left 25 people dead.
Seven of the dead are believed to be civilians. The cause was not clear but many believed a car bomb was responsible.
It is unclear what caused the blast in the city's Thalatheen Street. Some reports suggest it was a car bomb, while others say it was a drone attack. Activists say another 15 people were killed in Syrian government and Russian air strikes elsewhere on Sunday.
The Observatory, which monitors Syria's civil war through a network of sources, said rescue teams were working to recover the dead and wounded from the damaged building and nearby houses. The attacks came as the Syrian military announced they had recaptured the strategically important town of Sinjar in south-eastern Idlib.
Several people remain unaccounted for. Troops are advancing towards Abu al-Zuhour airbase, about 14km (nine miles) away, which rebels captured when they seized control of most of the province in 2015.
The rebel faction was named as the Ajnad al-Qawqaz group, which includes hundreds of Asian fighters. The large explosion in the centre of the provincial capital damaged several buildings and destroyed vehicles parked on Thalatheen Street.
It is fighting alongside the Fateh al-Sham Front, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, to repel a Syrian army offensive launched last year. The Syria Civil Defence, whose rescue workers are known as the White Helmets, says four children and 11 women were among the 25 people killed.
Idlib province, on the border with Turkey, is one of the last major strongholds of the forces opposing President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, put the death toll at 34, including 19 civilians. Other fatalities are believed to have been members of Ajnad al-Qawqaz, it said.
The Syrian army lost it to insurgents in 2015, when it became the only province under full opposition control. In the rebel faction are many foreign fighters from the Caucasus and Russia and it is allied with Hayat Tahir al-Sham, a jihadist force linked to al-Qaeda.
The Syrian army and its allies have vowed to take back Idlib and the neighbouring Hama province. The Syrian Observatory attributed the explosion to a car bomb or drone strike.
Idlib has seen fierce clashes in recent weeks, as the army pushed to seize a pivotal road between Damascus and Syria's second city, Aleppo. Rebel-held areas outside the city were also reportedly subjected to deadly air strikes on Sunday:
Air strikes reportedly continued across Idlib on Monday. Jarjanaz was targeted again, along with the town of Saraqeb, the Edlib Media Center says.
Idlib, which borders Turkey to the north, is home to an estimated 2.5 million people, including one million who have fled other rebel-held parts of Syria in recent years.
The UN says fighting and air strikes inside Idlib have forced more than 60,000 people to leave their homes since 1 November, and that they are in a "dire" situation.