Russia on Monday conducted an airstrike targeting northwestern Syria's Idlib de-escalation zone, killing two civilians.

According to a statement made by an opposition observatory, Russian warplanes departing from the Russian air base of Hmeimim in Latakia Governorate attacked a rural area in Idlib.

As civil defense sources reported, at least two civilians lost their lives during the attack.

Russia and Iran back Bashar Assad and his regime, while Turkey has been supporting opposition forces since an uprising started against Assad's arbitrary rule. Russia and Turkey agreed on a cease-fire for the long-disputed area in March of last year, and since then violence in the Idlib region has decreased. Nevertheless, the area has repeatedly come under shelling attacks by regime troops and their allies.

The Idlib region is home to nearly 3 million people, two-thirds of them displaced from other parts of the country.

Nearly 75% of the total population in the opposition-held Idlib region depends on humanitarian aid to meet their basic needs as 1.6 million people continue to live in camps or informal settlements, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.