BEIRUT // Air strikes believed to have been carried out by Russian warplanes killed at least 18 people and wounded dozens more on Sunday in a northern Syrian town held by insurgents, Syrian opposition media reported.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the air strikes struck the town of Ariha, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens more. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist collective, said the air strikes struck a busy market, inflicting heavy casualties.
Russia launched a bombing campaign in Syria on September 30 at the request of its ally Bashar Al Assad that Moscow says is targeting ISIL and other “terrorist” groups.
Meanwhile, the Turkish prime minister says Turkey has taken delivery of the body of a Russian pilot who was killed after Turkish F-16s shot down a Russian warplane.
Ahmet Davutoglu says the pilot’s body was brought to the border province of Hatay “through Turkey’s initiatives” on Sunday and will be flown back to Russia. He said the local Orthodox church in Hatay performed religious rites for the pilot.
Turkey shot down the plane on Tuesday after it entered its airspace from Syria, ignoring several warnings.
The two pilots parachuted out of the plane but were shot at by Syrian rebels on the ground. One of the pilots, Lt. Col. Oleg Peshko, died.
Turkey’s action drew strong reaction from Moscow. Russian president Vladimir Putin on Saturday called for sanctions against Turkey.
Ariha Today, a Facebook page that covers events in the town, said the air strikes were carried out by Russian warplanes, killing 40 people and wounding more than 70. Conflicting tolls are common in the chaotic aftermath of violent incidents in Syria.
If Russian warplanes carried out Sunday’s strikes it would be one of the deadliest incidents since Moscow began launching air strikes in Syria. Opposition activists say scores of people have been killed by Russian strikes since the air campaign began on September 30.
An amateur video posted online showed several men being treated on the floor of what appeared to be a clinic. Blood stains could be seen on the floor’s white tiles. On the street outside, four men could be seen lying near the building, with several young men weeping over them.
Shortly afterward, an ambulance arrived and a wounded man in a wheelchair was carried into the clinic.
Russia says its air strikes are targeting ISIL and other “terrorists,” but Western officials and Syrian rebels say most of the strikes have focused on central and northern Syria, where ISIL does not have a strong presence.
Syria’s conflict has killed more than 250,000 people and wounded more than a million since the start of an uprising against Mr Al Assad in 2011.
Also on Sunday, Israeli defence minister Moshe Yaalon said a Russian warplane recently entered Israeli-controlled airspace from Syria but the intrusion was resolved without incident.
“There was a slight intrusion a mile (1.6 kilometres) deep by a Russian plane from Syria into our airspace, but it was immediately resolved and the Russian plane returned towards Syria,” Mr Yaalon said.
“It was apparently an error by the pilot who was flying near the Golan.”
Israel seized most of the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later annexed the territory in a move never recognised by the international community.
Mr Yaalon recalled that Israel and Russia had made arrangements to avoid clashes over Syria, with the agreement said to include a “hotline” and information sharing.
He said “Russian planes do not intend to attack us, which is why we must not automatically react and shoot them down when an error occurs.”
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Putin held talks in Moscow in September to discuss ways of avoiding accidental clashes.
Israel has reportedly launched more than a dozen air strikes in Syria since 2013, mainly targeting alleged arms transfers to Hizbollah, and Israeli officials were believed to have feared that Russia’s intervention could limit their room for manoeuvre.
* Associated Press, Agence France-Presse
