MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A spokesman for the Russian reconciliation center said on Thursday that terrorists from the al-Nusra Front terrorist group continue attacks on settlements in Syria's Aleppo region, including the city of Aleppo itself.
"The shelling is indiscriminate, targeting not only positions of government forces, but also residential areas. Some 54 civilians were killed and 93 wounded in these attacks," the reconciliation center said in a daily bulletin posted by the Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the center said that a group of at least 160 al-Nusra Front militants had crossed the border with Turkey in the north of Idlib province and were heading for the Aleppo area to reinforce terrorists fighting there.
Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups.
A US-Russia-brokered ceasefire agreement came into force across Syria on February 27. The deal does not apply to terrorist groups such as Daesh and al-Nusra Front, both of which are outlawed in Russia and a range of other states.
The Russian Defense Ministry informed on Thursday that the number of settlements that have joined the ceasefire regime in Syria has increased to 140.
