Fourteen people are dead and at least 40 were wounded Monday when mortar shells hit government-held areas in a city in Syria.
Idlib is the capital in northwestern Syria. Rebels have been trying to overtake President Basha Assad’s government control of the area for about two years.
Mortar shells rained down on Idlib in a residential area and market, the state-run SANA news agency said.
Government TV is pointing to the rebels to blame for the attacks, however, no group has come forward to claim responsibility.
In eastern Syria, rebels fought with an al-Qaida group also on Monday. The al-Qaida group had declared the establishment of an Islamic caliphate on Sunday.
The conflict started about three years ago with protests against Assad, but the government struck down the protests and Syrians took up arms to fight. Jihadists soon joined the fight against the government, but rebels have accused them of fighting so their own motives and laying down Islamic rule in the territories they control.
According to reports, about 7,000 people have been killed in the rebel-on-rebel fighting since January. The majority of those killed have been militants, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Publication date: June 30, 2014
