Airstrike kills 29 in Syria’s Deir al-Zour

A total of 29 people were killed, including a woman, by an airstrike against rebel-held area in Syria’s eastern province of Deir al-Zour on Saturday, a monitor group reported. Tens of others were wounded, some critically, when unknown warplanes struck the town of Khusham in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It added that it wasn’t clear whether the strikes were carried out by Syrians or Russians. The UK-based watchdog group said the attack on Khusham came just a day after 44 people, including 15 children and eight women, were killed in similar airstrikes against areas in eastern Deir al-Zour. The Observatory said intense battles have been raging in Deir al-Zour since mid-January between Syrian government forces and the Islamic State (IS) group.