Syria Direct: News Update 8-12-15

Idlib hospitals lack resources for ‘so many wounded’

The fallout of a lethal regime airstrike on a crowded vegetable market in Idlib city on Tuesday proved too much for first responders, who transported a number of victims across the border into Turkey, the head of the opposition’s Civil Defense told Syria Direct on Wednesday.  
 
“Idlib’s hospitals simply lack the resources and capabilities to take in so many wounded, so we moved several victims across the border [30km northwest] to hospitals in Turkey,” said Raed Salih, referring to Tuesday’s regime air raid killing 30 and wounding 50 on the provincial capital.
 
A citizen journalist in Idlib city confirmed to pro-opposition news outlet AlSouria that area hospitals could not absorb the mass numbers of wounded.
 
“The hospitals just can’t absorb so many dying people,” said Ahmad Hassan to AlSouria on Tuesday.
 
“The body count will likely rise, as so many of the wounded are critically injured,” the activist added.
 
Tuesday’s bombing is the second time regime warplanes have struck the Idlib vegetable market, considered one of the city’s most crowded, noted pro-opposition site Enab Baladi on Tuesday.
 
The strike may have been in response to the Victory Army rebel coalition’s most recent march on the Shiite-majority villages of al-Fuaa and neighboring Kafariya, the last two regime-held villages in Idlib province, reported pro-opposition ARA News the same day. 

Unclaimed airstrike reported on Victory Army depot in Atmeh

International coalition jets allegedly destroyed a weapons depot on Tuesday in Atmeh, a town in the northeast Idlib countryside on Syria’s border with Turkey, reportedly killing two Jaish a-Sunna fighters, and as many as 20 civilians, Ahrar a-Sham spokesperson Abu al-Yazid told Syria Direct on Wednesday.
 
Although initial reports claimed the targeted depot was used by Jaish a-Sunna and Ahrar a-Sham–both members of the Victory Army rebel coalition–Ahrar a-Sham denied over Twitter on Tuesday that its forces ever used the now-wrecked building, or that any of its fighters were killed in the attack.
 
Syria’s opposition media reported international coalition jets were behind the strike. Syria Direct could not independently verify that claim and CENTCOM did not appear to comment.
 
For its part, Turkey denied the use of its airspace in any attack on Atmeh.
 
“Neither coalition warplanes, nor armed drones, used nearby Incirlik airbase or Turkish airspace to attack Atmeh,” said the Turkish Foreign Ministry in a statement on Tuesday.

 Atmeh Civil Defense at Idlib city’s vegetable souq. Photo courtesy of @RamiSafadi93.