Idlib, Syria ــ According to Syrian Civil Defense, a couple and three of their children were killed in Russian airstrikes on a house on a farm near the town of Armenaz in western Idlib on Monday evening.

Another child, the only survivor, was injured.

“We live in this small region of Syria as legitimate targets to satisfy the criminal instincts of both Russia and the Assad regime,” said Walid Ahmed Murad, 32, who killed his sister, her husband and their children in the Alata airstrike farm lost. He was referring to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Murad told Al Jazeera that his sister Fatima and her husband Anas fled Aleppo six years ago after the Assad regime took control, only to return to their hometown of Jabal Zawiya in rural Idlib before arriving three days ago moved to the farm to find work in sheep farming.

“They were very happy to find work that could help them live in their difficult economic conditions,” Murad said. The three children who died – Amina, Khalid and Mohammed – “were some of the nicest children you could meet and I will miss them forever,” he said. Hamza, his sister’s fourth and only living child, is in critical condition.

Earlier in the day, Another civilian was killedFive more people, including three children, were injured in a rocket attack by Syrian regime troops on homes, a rural school, public facilities and agricultural land in the city of Sarmin in eastern Idlib.

The Syrian Civil Defense, a volunteer emergency rescue group also known as the White Helmets, said its teams had responded to 1,232 attacks by Syrian regime forces, Russian forces and their allied militias since early 2023 through Dec. 17.

These attacks left 161 people dead, including 46 children and 23 women, while 681 people were injured, including 214 children and 95 women.

Idlib, the last province controlled by Idlib opposition fighters in Syria is subject to a ceasefire agreement of March 5, 2020 between Turkey and Russia. However, this agreement is occasionally violated by Syrian government forces and Russia.

“Today’s massacre is proof that Russia can never be on the side of peace and a party that brings security to Syrians. “The international community must put an end to Russian cross-border terrorism,” said Nada al-Rashid, board member of the Syrian Civil Defense.

Al-Rashid told Al Jazeera that villages in eastern and southern Idlib were being systematically attacked by regime forces, undermining stability in the region and creating a state of terror and fear, leading to waves of displacement.

“The ongoing massacres of Syrians by the Assad regime and Russia increase the dangers of living in dozens of cities and towns and create a reality of ongoing suffering, especially in the harsh winter that devastates camps lacking the basic necessities of life lack and infrastructure is weak, a significant decline in humanitarian aid,” said al-Rashid.

Hopes for accountability

While much of the world celebrates Christmas and prepares for the New Year, those celebrations are missing for the people of northwestern Syria due to ongoing bombings and worsening economic conditions in an area of ​​4.5 million people, including 1.9 million internally displaced people According to the latest statistics from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), refugee camps host large numbers of people (IDP).

“Russia is celebrating Christmas in its criminal way by killing children and women in Idlib,” said Obadah al-Daher, 21, a displaced civilian from the town of Maarat al-Numan, who lives in the town of al-Dana, near the Syrian -Turkish border lives.

Al-Daher is leaving his country and his homeland for the fourth time today, having left it in early 2020 following a military campaign by the Syrian regime with the support of Russia and Iranian militias.

The campaign led to the control of the town of Maarat al-Numan and its surroundings, resulting in the displacement of most of its residents to northern Idlib.

“At the beginning of each year, we hope to return to our homes and that the Assad regime and Russia will be held accountable for the crimes they have committed and continue to commit against us,” al-Daher said.