(Previous Incident Codes: R2060RS2200)

Up to nine civilians including eight members of the civil defense died in alleged Russian and Syrian regime airstrikes in an “unprecedented bombing campaign” on Kafr Zita, according to local media.

Eight of the victims were killed in a strike on a civil defense shelter, including Hassan Hammoud Arfat, a paramedic and Ahmad Nayef al Hussein, a media activist. A number of civilians were wounded.

Activists in the city called it an “unprecedented bombing campaign”, beginning at 9 a.m. and continuing all day. As well as the Civil Defense Centre, mosques and residential neighborhoods were strucknwith cluster bombs and high-explosive rockets.

The city’s hospital was struck again for the second consecutive day. Sources told Smart News Agency that the radiation and emergency centers were destroyed, putting the hospital out of service permanently.

Medical staff were injured including Mazen Al-A’raj, the hospital’s administrative director and brother of one of those killed.

The hospital’s Director of Information claimed the Russian warplanes belonged to Hmeimim air base.

A military source told Al Khaleej that the airstrikes were retaliation for the large losses the regime and its supporters suffered in previous weeks.