Bloody 24 hours as Syria, Russia escalate punishing attacks

Syrian opposition rescue teams pulled babies from incubators in a hospital under attack, rushing them to safety in a pick-up truck. Elderly patients lay motionless on the ground and rescue workers searched for survivors in the rubble of a destroyed apartment building as stepped up airstrikes by Syrian government forces and their Russian allies on the country's last remaining rebel strongholds killed at least 28 civilians on Monday.

"It is like the end of days," said Raed Saleh, the head of the first-responders known as White Helmets, describing the last 24 hours of attacks on the opposition-held eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta and northwestern Idlib province.

This photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense group known as the White Helmets, shows a civil defense worker carrying a wounded man after airstrikes hit a rebel-held suburb near Damascus, Syria, Monday, Feb. 5, 2018. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP)

The escalating offensive, which included a suspected chlorine attack a day earlier, reached a new ferocity after insurgents downed a Russian Su-25 over the weekend, the first time they scored such a major hit against the government's main ally, Moscow.

Russia has waged a punishing aerial campaign against Syria's armed opposition since intervening in the civil war on the side of its ally, President Bashar Assad, in 2015. Cease-fire deals have failed to quell the violence or restore humanitarian aid to besieged Ghouta, were 400,000 residents are holed up amid warnings of a looming humanitarian disaster.

"If a Russian plane was downed, revenge should not be on civilians and children," Saleh said. "Now more than any other day, we need the international community to restore the humanity it has lost in Syria."

This photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense group known as the White Helmets, shows civil defense workers searching for survivors after airstrikes hit a rebel-held suburb near Damascus, Syria, Monday, Feb. 5, 2018. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP)

The al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee, which is the dominant militant group in Idlib, said its fighters shot down the Russian jet near the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province and killed its pilot after he ejected from the plane. Rebels have previously claimed to have downed Syrian government planes or drones, but it was the first time they hit a Russian aircraft.

Russia's military bases in western Syria were also hit last month in a series of drone attacks, challenging Moscow's gains in the country still torn by conflict.

This photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense group known as the White Helmets, shows a civil defense worker carrying a wounded man after airstrikes hit a rebel-held suburb near Damascus, Syria, Monday, Feb. 5, 2018. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP)

Since then, activists say Russian and Syrian government forces have stepped up their attacks.

Activists and rescue workers reported at least 28 civilians, including six children, were killed on Monday in Ghouta, where nearly 40 airstrikes hit the suburb that is the last opposition stronghold in Damascus.

This photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense group known as the White Helmets, shows civilians standing near a body after airstrikes hit a rebel-held suburb near Damascus, Syria, Monday, Feb. 5, 2018. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP)

In Idlib, two hospitals have been hit with airstrikes since Sunday and at least 14 people killed. Rescue workers continued Monday to sift through the wreckage of a six-story building flattened a day earlier, pulling out three bodies after daylight. At least eight residents remained missing when the search was suspended at nightfall, one rescuer said.

In Idlib, a hospital in the town of Kafranbel was bombed early Monday, according to the activist-run Edlib Media Center and the Observatory. Another hospital, in Maaret al-Numan, was struck three times late Sunday and put out of service, according to the Syrian American Medical Society, which runs the facility.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 70 people were wounded Monday and the number of casualties was likely to climb as rescue operations got underway.

This photo provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group, Ghouta Media Center, GMC, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows an injured boy receiving treatment at a hospital in Hazeh in eastern Ghouta, the only remaining rebel stronghold near the capital, Damascus, Syria, Monday, Feb. 5, 2018. (Ghouta Media Center via AP)

The dead included a rescue worker who was killed as his team searched for survivors in the town of Arbeen, which was hit by 15 airstrikes Monday afternoon.

Yousef al-Boustani, an opposition media activist in eastern Ghouta's Douma neighborhood, called the air raids "hysterical."

"We were seeing three planes in the air at a time," he said.

On Sunday, the White Helmets search-and-rescue group and a medical charity reported that several people suffered breathing difficulties after a suspected chlorine gas attack on Saraqeb, days after the Trump administration accused Assad's government of producing and using "new kinds of weapons" to deliver poisonous gases. Damascus denied the White House's charges, and The Associated Press could not independently verify the reports of a chlorine gas attack.

This photo provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group, Ghouta Media Center, GMC, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows children receiving treatment at a hospital in Hazeh in eastern Ghouta, the only remaining rebel stronghold near the capital, Damascus, Syria, Monday, Feb. 5, 2018. (Ghouta Media Center via AP)

The White Helmets said three of its rescuers and six other people suffered breathing problems. The Syrian American Medical Society said its hospitals in Idlib treated 11 patients for suspected chlorine gas poisoning.

A U.N. investigative commission said in 2016 that the Syrian government was behind at least three chlorine gas attacks during the seven-year civil war, but activists and monitoring groups contend there have been more.

Meanwhile, Turkey dispatched a large military convoy deep inside rebel-held territory to establish an observation post at Tel al-Eiss, close to the front line with government forces, according to activists who filmed the convoy's movements.

Turkey began deploying forces to northwestern Syria in October, as part of an agreement with Iran and Russia to stabilize the lines of conflict in war-torn Syria. But those deployments have failed to calm the fighting. Turkey says its forces are deployed in an observer role.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian village of Ocheretyne has been battered by fighting, drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows. The village has been a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

Russian troops have been advancing in the area, pounding Kyiv’s depleted, ammunition-deprived forces with artillery, drones and bombs. Ukraine’s military has acknowledged the Russians have gained a “foothold” in Ocheretyne, which had a population of about 3,000 before the war, but says that fighting continues.

Residents have scrambled to flee the village, among them a 98-year-old womanwho walked almost 10 kilometers (6 miles) alone last week, wearing a pair of slippers and supported by a cane, until she reached Ukrainian front lines.

Not a single person is seen in the footage, and no building in Ocheretyne appears to have been left untouched by the fighting. Most houses, apartment blocks and other buildings look damaged beyond repair, and many houses have been pummeled into piles of wood and bricks. A factory on the outskirts has also been badly damaged.

The footage also shows smoke billowing from several houses, and fires burning in at least two buildings.

Elsewhere, Russia has in recent weeks stepped up attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, in an attempt to pummel the region’s energy infrastructure and terrorize its 1.3 million residents.

Four people were wounded and a two-story civilian building was damaged and set ablaze overnight after Russian forces struck Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, with exploding drones, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said Saturday.

The four, including a 13-year-old, were hurt by falling debris, he said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russian state agency RIA reported Saturday reported that Moscow’s forces struck a drone warehouse in Kharkiv that had been used by Ukrainian troops overnight, citing Sergei Lebedev, described as a coordinator of local pro-Moscow guerrillas. His comments could not be independently verified.

Syniehubov said Russia also bombed Kharkiv on Friday, damaging residential buildings and sparking a fire. An 82-year-old woman died and two men were wounded.

Ukraine’s military said Russia launched a total of 13 Shahed drones at the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions of eastern Ukraine overnight, all of which were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses.

Ukraine’s energy ministry on Saturday said the overnight strikes damaged an electrical substation in the Dnipropetrovsk region, briefly depriving households and businesses of power.

According to Serhii Lysak, the province's governor, falling drone debris damaged unspecified “critical infrastructure” and three private houses, one of which caught on fire. Two residents, a man and a woman, were rushed to hospital.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed early on Saturday that its forces overnight shot down four U.S.-provided long-range ATACMS missiles over the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The ministry did not provide further details.

Ukraine has recently begun using the missiles, provided secretly by the United States, to hit Russian-held areas, including a military airfield in Crimea and in another area east of the occupied city of Berdyansk, U.S. officials said last week.

Long sought by Ukrainian leaders, the new missiles give Ukraine nearly double the striking distance — up to 300 kilometers (190 miles) — than it had with the mid-range version of the weapons it received from the U.S. last October.

A Ukrainian drone also damaged telecommunications infrastructure on the outskirts of Belgorod, a Russian city some 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the Ukrainian border, according to the local governor. Vyacheslav Gladkov did not say what the site was used for.

This drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows the village of Ocheretyne, a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s military has acknowledged the Russians have gained a “foothold” in Ocheretyne, which had a population of about 3,000 before the war, but say fighting continues. No people could be seen in the footage, and no building in Ocheretyne appeared to have been left untouched by the fighting. (Kherson/Green via AP)

This drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows the village of Ocheretyne, a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s military has acknowledged the Russians have gained a “foothold” in Ocheretyne, which had a population of about 3,000 before the war, but say fighting continues. No people could be seen in the footage, and no building in Ocheretyne appeared to have been left untouched by the fighting. (Kherson/Green via AP)

This drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows the village of Ocheretyne, a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s military has acknowledged the Russians have gained a “foothold” in Ocheretyne, which had a population of about 3,000 before the war, but say fighting continues. No people could be seen in the footage, and no building in Ocheretyne appeared to have been left untouched by the fighting. (Kherson/Green via AP)

This drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows the village of Ocheretyne, a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s military has acknowledged the Russians have gained a “foothold” in Ocheretyne, which had a population of about 3,000 before the war, but say fighting continues. No people could be seen in the footage, and no building in Ocheretyne appeared to have been left untouched by the fighting. (Kherson/Green via AP)

This drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows the village of Ocheretyne, a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s military has acknowledged the Russians have gained a “foothold” in Ocheretyne, which had a population of about 3,000 before the war, but say fighting continues. No people could be seen in the footage, and no building in Ocheretyne appeared to have been left untouched by the fighting. (Kherson/Green via AP)

This drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows the village of Ocheretyne, a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s military has acknowledged the Russians have gained a “foothold” in Ocheretyne, which had a population of about 3,000 before the war, but say fighting continues. No people could be seen in the footage, and no building in Ocheretyne appeared to have been left untouched by the fighting. (Kherson/Green via AP)

This drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows the village of Ocheretyne, a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s military has acknowledged the Russians have gained a “foothold” in Ocheretyne, which had a population of about 3,000 before the war, but say fighting continues. No people could be seen in the footage, and no building in Ocheretyne appeared to have been left untouched by the fighting. (Kherson/Green via AP)

This drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows the village of Ocheretyne, a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s military has acknowledged the Russians have gained a “foothold” in Ocheretyne, which had a population of about 3,000 before the war, but say fighting continues. No people could be seen in the footage, and no building in Ocheretyne appeared to have been left untouched by the fighting. (Kherson/Green via AP)